I am a child of war. In 1993, when I was only eight years old, I was captured and put aside with my siblings to be killed. It was during the civil war in the Republic of the Congo. Thankfully, my grandmother was well connected, so we made it out alive. Other people that day weren’t as lucky. Four years later, another civil war broke out.
My journey is that of determination to understand and act to prevent the root causes of civil wars. As part of that journey, in 2001, I left my country for Senegal. Seeing young Senegalese people voting in peace was quite the shock. It meant that, even in Africa, it was possible to have elections without killing each other. I began to understand what an African democratic society could be because I saw it first-hand.
I was also opened up to the world of community contribution through my activities with Junior Chamber International (JCI). I also received training in investigative journalism from an international NGO called Global Witness.
According to our 2014 research, the Republic of the Congo faces endemic unemployment of 53%, stagnating in the depths of the international rankings. Everywhere, insecurity is gaining ground, and justice has still not won its independence from the executive branch. This state failure is the result of unjust and inefficient policies over the past 24 years, and the poor control of public policies has led to endemic corruption while disempowering state servants. When you grow up in a country without strong institutions, you end up getting used to injustice and human life gradually loses its value.
My dream is to see a world free from corruption, starting from my home country, the Republic of the Congo. As a first step towards that dream, in 2014, my friends and I founded the #Sassoufit Collective, where we work to monitor political power and establish the rule of law and democracy in the Republic of the Congo.
I am also running for the Republic of the Congo’s presidency, with elections scheduled to take place in March 2021. As former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, “You are never too young to lead!” I am convinced that political will is central in the fight against corruption, not experience. I will fight for an open government, minimum state intervention into the economy, and, above all, I will fight for democracy to take root throughout the African continent.