"Every cloud has a silver lining". The expression has been used by Jeanine, Alain, and Henry, the three staff working for the city hall in Beni who are pleased with the improvement in their working conditions since the construction of the new building, financed by MONUSCO.

Almost two years after the inauguration of the new city hall, they still do not seem to have come down from their little cloud.

“The city hall fire was a necessary evil" to understand what Jeanine is referring to, a step back was necessary.

On November 25, 2019 at 8 a.m., Henry Kakule, head of state protocol at Beni city hall, saw a dozen angry people rushing to the building, marching in protest a massacre that took place the day before in Masiana district in which eight people were killed.

Henry Kakule had just the time to inform the mayor and police officers in the city before taking shelter. The intervention of the law enforcement police did not have any effect. Protesters set fire to the city hall building, which flew up in smoke.

“I felt suddenly sick. I was traumatized,” said Mr. Kakule.

At the other end of the city, Jeanine Mbokani was listening to the radio like every morning before going to work. She took some time before realizing that the information that was broadcast concerned her in the first place. "I couldn't believe it," she recalled. She has been working for the city hall since 2009, with "Okapi Phonie", the service which deals with the transmission of official messages to and from the governor's office in Goma.

Alain Kakule says he learned the terrible news from the WhatsApp social network. A video was shared in a group of which he is a member. “I could not believe it. I immediately thought of the official documents that we would have lost,” said this staff member of the editorial unit of the city hall of Beni. He knew what he was talking about. It is his team that drat all the official mails of the mayor.

" The day and the night "

After the emotion aroused by the fire in the city hall of Beni, the mayor urged the staff members to pull themselves together and get back to work. But where? The official residence of the mayor was turned to office.

“It was very uncomfortable. At the city hall, we had ten departments. The house had three bedrooms. Three services were grouped together in each of the rooms. It was very complicated,” said Henry Kakule, who was nicknamed at the city hall “Coach”, due to his seniority.

After these sad events, it was with great joy that he learned a few months later, the launch of construction work on a new city hall building, with funding from MONUSCO.

“I was the happiest man. I had seen with my own eyes the fire at the city hall. And I saw the governor laying the first stone,” he said, with high emotion.

The day of the inauguration of the new building was a day of celebration: “We were very impatient to take possession of our new offices. The day MONUSCO officially handed over the building to us was a huge celebration. The people were extremely happy. And I remember how everyone were trying to choose their own office though the plan already provided for the distribution in terms of the number of departments and in accordance with the organization chart,” said Alain Kakule.

It is on the first level of the new building that the office of Jeanine Mbokani was located; she worked in the unit that dealt with the transmission of official messages to and from the governor's office in Goma. She says, since moving in, she was arriving at work a little earlier than usual. Above all, she was delighted to work in the best conditions and in a pleasant environment.

“In our new office, we are comfortable. We have furniture. We can work quietly. I can say it today, those who burned down the town hall, they did a necessary evil”, she said.

Henry Kakule confirms that the old building which was burnt down was no longer at all convenient. Built in 1944, it was dilapidated.

“As state protocol member, I did not have an office, I was receiving visitors at the entrance hall. We couldn't talk about confidential matters since everyone could listen", he said, before declaring, "comparing the new and the old building, it's just like day and night".

Il estime également que les habitants de la ville ont un autre regard sur les agents de la mairie et leur travail.

« Quand les gens arrivent, ils ont vraiment le sentiment d’être dans un bureau de l’État. Ils sont rassurés. Quand vous entrez par exemple dans le bureau de notre comptable, il y a des ordinateurs. L’assujetti qui doit payer des taxes n’a pas de doute qu’il est au bon endroit », argumente le chef du protocole d’État de la mairie.

Si Henry, Jeanine et Alain gardent encore des souvenirs douloureux de l’incendie de l’ancien bâtiment de la mairie de Beni, ils assurent que ce sentiment est vite balayé par la satisfaction de travailler désormais dans de bonnes conditions.

A better working environment

If there is one feature Alain Kakule would like to use to describe the new building, apart from the comfort it offers, it is precisely the confidentiality in processing files.

"All users testify to it," he said. With this new building, the performance of the staff will be better off. There are issues that require some confidentiality. Here, they are treated without fear. At the administrative secretariat, where we work, there are sometimes mails which require verbal answers. We can now invite the clients and talk to them in good conditions without any fear of being overheard in the neighboring office. In the old building, this was not guaranteed. Some offices were simply separated by pieces of boards.

For Henry Kakule, there is no doubt that a better work environment has improved staff members’ performance.

He also believes that city residents have a different view of the city hall officers and their work.

“When people get to this building mow, they really feel like they are in a state office. They are reassured. When you walk into our accountant's office, for example, there are computers. The taxable person who must pay taxes has no doubt that he is in the right place,” argues the head of state protocol at the city hall.

If Henry, Jeanine and Alain still had painful recollections of the fire on the old building of the city hall of Beni, they assure that this feeling has been quickly swept away by the satisfactory working conditions offered by the new building.

On September 22, 2021, when inaugurating the new building, North Kivu Governor, Lieutenant-General Constant Ndima hailed what he referred to as "another tool for stabilization" in a province still plagued by violence and where the residents are demanding a stronger presence of the State and its services.

MONUSCO's action in favor of the city hall of Beni falls within the scope of its mandate relating to support for the stabilization and strengthening of State institutions in the Democratic Republic of Congo.