Another setback for the IXth Francophonie Games. After having changed host countries in 2019 by switching from Canada to the DRC, and then after having agreed to postpone from 2021 to 2022 the event due to the Covid-19 pandemic the following year, the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) has once again rescheduled its flagship cultural and sporting event.

"In accordance with the recommendations of the Steering Committee of the International Committee of the Francophonie Games (ICFG) held on January 25, the PCF [Permanent Council of the Francophonie] decided to postpone the IXth Francophonie Games by one year, to be held in Kinshasa in 2023 at a date still to be determined in light of the international sporting calendar," states a statement dated February 8, 2022. "This decision followed an exchange concerning the state of progress in organizing the IXth Francophonie Games as well as the possibility of broad participation by young Francophone athletes and artists."

A budget of 48 million euros

The threat of a postponement had been looming for several months. Suspicions of embezzlement around certain construction projects complicated the Kinshasa 2022 dossier, already hampered by difficult deadlines to meet and the Covid-19 pandemic. Result: the accumulated delays would be substantial and would concern both the accommodation of participants and the infrastructure intended to host competitions as well as logistics, according to a source at rfi.fr.

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On the Congolese side, the problems are not denied but a philosophical approach is being taken. "It is not a bad decision," said Isidore Kwandja Ngembo, national director of the IXth Francophonie Games, to Sébastien Nemeth. "The bad decision would have been if the Games were cancelled. But the fact that we postponed gives us the opportunity to work peacefully, to do things correctly and to organize a grandiose Games. It is true that the DRC had already made considerable efforts. The government put 26 million euros at our disposal for the organization. It also paid the contractors [approximately 22 million euros, editor's note] who are to build the infrastructure."

Isidore Kwandja Ngembo further assures that the original specifications for the Francophonie Games were drawn up before the Covid-19 crisis, which did not help matters. "We will have to put in place a plan to welcome athletes and supporters under safe health conditions."

Games between July 23 and August 15, 2023?

Regarding the accommodation of the approximately 4,000 participants, the head of the CNJ notes that the DRC is now leaning towards a village made up of prefabricated units, near the Tata Raphaël stadium rather than the construction of seven large buildings of twelve stories each. This contract has moreover been cancelled.

As for when these Games will take place in 2023, Isidore Kwandja Ngembo mentions a period from July 23 to August 15 that will need to be refined according to the international sporting calendar. Nine sporting disciplines and eleven cultural competitions are indeed on the program of these Games which were supposed to take place from August 19-28, 2022. The Xth edition, meanwhile, is scheduled for 2025.