Justin Bitakwira

Justin Bitakwira Bihona-Hayi (born 5 December 1960) is a Congolese politician and a member of the National Assembly. He is the founder of the Alliance pour la République et la Conscience Nationale political party (ARCN) and a member of the Union for the Congolese Nation (Union pour la Nation Congolaise; UNC). He has been affiliated with several political parties, including the Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) and the People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD). He held various government positions, including Minister of Rural Development, Minister of Communication and Media and Minister of Relations with Parliament. As a minister, his political principles were described as nationalist, populist, opportunist, reformist, tribalist, and protectionist.

Early life Justin Bitakwira Bihona-Hayi was born on 5 December 1960, to a Fuliiru herder and farmer, Somora Mugambire, in Lemera, Bafuliiru Chiefdom, Uvira Territory, within the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. His uncle is the former Mai-Mai guerrilla movement leader, Zabuloni Rubaruba. In 1967, at the age of seven, his father was slaughtered by the Mulelist insurgents who emerged in the Lemera and Uvira areas east and south of Bukavu. In 2008, he advocated for the central government to establish state authority throughout the country and deplored the systematic abuses committed against Fuliiru farmers. In the second legislature of 2011, he ran for re-election and was the only one among the 2006 deputies to be re-elected in the same constituency. In June 2016, he officially launched his political party: Alliance for the Republic and National Conscience (Alliance pour la République et la Conscience Nationale; ARCN), defining it as a party dedicated to revitalizing political, economic, and social life in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.