President Félix Tshisekedi has ordered tougher enforcement of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s subcontracting rules, increasing pressure on major private-sector companies accused of keeping Congolese entrepreneurs away from valuable contracts.
The instruction was given to the new director-general of the Authority for the Regulation of Subcontracting in the Private Sector, known by its French acronym ARSP, during a meeting at the Cité de l’Union Africaine in Kinshasa on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
After the meeting, ARSP chief Ted Beleshayi Kasanda said the President had asked him to be firm and uncompromising toward companies that circumvent the law.
The stated goal is to turn subcontracting into a practical route through which Congolese-owned companies can win contracts, build expertise, create jobs and retain more economic value inside the country.
However, the announcement is an enforcement directive, not proof that new contracts have already been transferred to Congolese businesses.
No inspection programme, list of offending companies, new sanction, recovered contract value or implementation deadline was announced.
What Tshisekedi instructed the ARSP to do
According to reporting by the Congolese Press Agency and RTNC, Tshisekedi directed the ARSP’s new leader to clean up the subcontracting sector and enforce the law more strictly.
Beleshayi said the President wanted action against practices that weaken the national economy and prevent Congolese companies from receiving the opportunities protected by law.
“The Head of State asked me to be firm and uncompromising in the fight against bad practices in the private sector, particularly against companies that circumvent the law,” Beleshayi said in remarks reported after the meeting.
ECONOMIC POLICIES
Tshisekedi Orders Tougher Enforcement of DRC Subcontracting Law
Jul 24, 2026
Jul 24, 2026
10 min read
Published
Updated:
President Félix Tshisekedi has ordered tougher enforcement of the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s subcontracting rules, increasing pressure on major private-sector companies accused of keeping Congolese entrepreneurs away from valuable contracts.
The instruction was given to the new director-general of the Authority for the Regulation of Subcontracting in the Private Sector, known by its French acronym ARSP, during a meeting at the Cité de l’Union Africaine in Kinshasa on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
After the meeting, ARSP chief Ted Beleshayi Kasanda said the President had asked him to be firm and uncompromising toward companies that circumvent the law.
The stated goal is to turn subcontracting into a practical route through which Congolese-owned companies can win contracts, build expertise, create jobs and retain more economic value inside the country.
However, the announcement is an enforcement directive, not proof that new contracts have already been transferred to Congolese businesses.
No inspection programme, list of offending companies, new sanction, recovered contract value or implementation deadline was announced.
What Tshisekedi instructed the ARSP to do
According to reporting by the Congolese Press Agency and RTNC, Tshisekedi directed the ARSP’s new leader to clean up the subcontracting sector and enforce the law more strictly.
Beleshayi said the President wanted action against practices that weaken the national economy and prevent Congolese companies from receiving the opportunities protected by law.
“The Head of State asked me to be firm and uncompromising in the fight against bad practices in the private sector, particularly against companies that circumvent the law,” Beleshayi said in remarks reported after the meeting.
He presented the wider ambition as the creation of a genuine class of Congolese entrepreneurs.
That language is important because the problem is not simply whether a company has a Congolese registration document. The policy objective is for Congolese people to own businesses, develop technical capacity, receive income from contracts and grow companies capable of competing in major supply chains.
What is the ARSP?
The ARSP is the public authority responsible for regulating subcontracting in the DRC’s private sector.
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Its role includes monitoring compliance, registering eligible subcontractors, inspecting companies and helping enforce rules designed to increase Congolese participation in private-sector markets.
It therefore sits between large companies that award contracts and the smaller businesses that provide goods, labour or specialised services.
The institution is especially important in sectors where one large investment creates a wide network of secondary contracts.
A mine, for example, may need transport companies, equipment maintenance, catering, industrial security, construction, medical services, cleaning, information technology, fuel, protective equipment and other supplies.
A telecommunications company may require tower maintenance, fibre installation, logistics, security, software support and local construction.
If these contracts go to genuine Congolese businesses, the economic effect can spread beyond the main investor. Local companies gain revenue, workers acquire skills, banks gain business customers and more spending can remain inside the national economy.
What does the Congolese subcontracting law say?
The central legal framework is Law No. 17/001 of February 8, 2017.
Its first article says the law is intended to promote small and medium-sized enterprises with Congolese capital and protect the national workforce.
The law applies across private-sector activities unless a particular sector or profession is governed by other legal provisions.
Article 6 reserves subcontracting activity to companies with Congolese capital, promoted by Congolese people and headquartered in the DRC.
An exception is possible when the necessary expertise is unavailable or inaccessible. The principal company must provide proof, and a foreign company may only perform the activity temporarily under the conditions set by the law.
The law also covers related and supporting services, including activities such as:
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Transporting products or workers
Staff catering and laundry
Industrial security and fire protection
Healthcare for employees
Specialised technical services
Work connected to part of a principal contract
For qualifying contracts, the law requires competitive tendering and public notice. It also requires companies operating in the country to publish annually the revenue generated with subcontractors and the list of subcontracting companies used.
Principal companies are expected to introduce training policies that allow Congolese workers to acquire the technical skills required for specialised activities.
What penalties can apply?
The 2017 law already contains enforcement powers.
A principal company that subcontracts in violation of Article 6 can face a fine of between 50 million and 150 million Congolese francs.
The law also provides for a temporary administrative closure of up to six months, depending on the authority handling the case.
A subcontracting agreement concluded in violation of Article 6 can be treated as legally void.
These provisions show that the ARSP’s challenge is not simply the absence of rules. It is the effective detection, documentation and punishment of violations.
The new presidential instruction therefore raises several practical questions:
Will the ARSP publish a timetable for inspections?
Will it disclose which companies are found to be non-compliant?
Will sanctions be applied consistently, regardless of a company’s political or commercial influence?
Will Congolese entrepreneurs be able to report suspected violations safely?
Will cancelled or corrected contracts become accessible through transparent tenders?
Answers to those questions will determine whether the directive changes the market.
How companies may bypass local-participation rules
Rules can be respected on paper while being weakened in practice.
One concern is the use of nominee shareholders, sometimes called prête-noms, in which Congolese people appear in company documents but do not exercise real ownership, control or receive a fair share of the profits.
Another possible method is for a major company to keep supporting activities inside its own structure instead of making them available to eligible subcontractors.
Contracts may also be designed with financial, technical or experience requirements that unnecessarily exclude smaller local companies.
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In other cases, an eligible Congolese subcontractor may win a contract but remain dependent on a foreign partner that controls the equipment, financing, management and income.
These practices can leave the legal appearance of local participation while most of the economic value continues to flow elsewhere.
Effective enforcement must therefore examine beneficial ownership, management control, payment flows, technical capacity and how contracts are actually performed, not only the names shown on registration documents.
Why this so important for Congolese entrepreneurs
Subcontracting can be one of the fastest ways for local businesses to enter large industrial supply chains.
A new entrepreneur may not have the capital to build a copper mine, mobile-phone network or cement factory. The same entrepreneur may be able to provide uniforms, transport, maintenance, software, food, construction materials or professional services to the company running that project.
A properly managed subcontracting system can:
Create markets for Congolese small and medium-sized enterprises
Generate skilled and entry-level jobs
Build technical and managerial experience
Help local companies obtain a record of completed contracts
Increase demand for Congolese banks, insurers and suppliers
Keep a larger share of business income circulating inside the DRC
Prepare national firms to compete for larger contracts
The opportunity is especially significant in mining provinces, where billion-dollar projects operate beside communities that often see limited local business growth.
It also extends to telecommunications, construction, energy, manufacturing, logistics, agriculture, banking and other private industries.
A pending reform should not be confused with this directive
Congolese lawmakers have also been considering changes to the subcontracting framework and a wider local-content law.
Recent parliamentary proposals have focused on ensuring that Congolese majority shareholders receive the real financial benefits attached to their ownership, including proof of dividend payments in qualifying circumstances.
Those legislative proposals respond to concerns that Congolese shareholders can hold a majority stake on paper without receiving meaningful control or income.
However, the July 23 presidential meeting concerned enforcement of the existing subcontracting framework. It did not announce that a new law had been promulgated, and it did not itself amend the rules.
The two developments should therefore be followed separately: one concerns enforcing current obligations, while the other concerns possible changes to the legal framework.
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