In a major political shakeup, Democratic Republic of Congo President Félix Tshisekedi has removed Lieutenant General Johnny Luboya Nkashama from his post as the military governor of Ituri Province.
While the Luboya’s dismissal follows months of fierce diplomatic pressure from Uganda, high-level government sources confirm that the decisive factor behind his immediate removal was his severe mishandling of the ongoing Ebola outbreak ravaging eastern DRC.
The political tide turned completely against Lt Gen Luboya following a high-stakes ministerial inspection of the province. Seeking to assess an epidemic that has claimed hundreds of lives, President Tshisekedi dispatched an elite delegation to the provincial capital of Bunia, led by Minister of Public Health Dr. Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba and Minister of Communication and Media Patrick Muyaya Katembwe.
During a tense executive evaluation on the ground, the ministers reportedly castigated Luboya for a response framework that was completely overwhelmed and structurally disorganized.
Sources privy to the meetings state that Dr. Mulamba and Muyaya heavily rebuked the military governor for failing to secure community trust, leaving medical clinics vulnerable to rebel attacks, and allowing the recent Ebola outbreak to spread unchecked.
The virus began spreading silently through local health networks, but it was not effectively contained under Luboya’s emergency martial rule.
In a region housing nearly one million internally displaced people, the administration's slow response allowed the virus to explode across 18 separate health zones.
Beyond the public health failures, Luboya’s tenure had become a massive geopolitical liability for Kinshasa. For instance Uganda's Chief of Defence Forces, Gen Muhoozi had blasted Luboya as "very toxic," accusing the Congolese general of sabotaging Operation Shujaa—the joint military offensive targeting Allied Democratic Forces terrorists.
Gen Kainerugana even threatened to completely withdraw Ugandan troops from eastern Congo if Luboya was not removed. However, Kinshasa initially retained Luboya but the combination of regional military pressure from General Kainerugaba and the explosive Ebola emergency made his position entirely untenable.
Subsequently, Lt Gen Luboya, who had held control over Ituri since May 2021, has been officially replaced by Major General Kasongo Mulumba Batoka Gaby. The new administration takes over a province in acute crisis. Major General Batoka Gaby’s immediate mandate will be two-fold: repairing frayed security relations with cross-border Ugandan forces to combat active rebel groups, and collaborating with international health organizations to enforce strict quarantine and contact-tracing measures to finally halt the Ebola spread.
