Antoine-Roger Bolamba

Antoine-Roger Bolamba, later Bolamba Lokolé J'ongungu^[a] (27 July 1913 – 9 July 2002), was a Congolese journalist, writer, and politician. He edited the monthly journal La Voix du Congolais from 1945 until 1959. He also served as Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs of the Republic of the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) in 1960 and then as Minister of Information and Tourism from 1963 until 1964.

Bolamba was born to a Mongo family in 1913 in the Belgian Congo. During his education he took interest in French literature and soon thereafter began to write, publishing various works and contributing to Congolese periodicals. He gained public attention in 1939 after winning awards for his writing. In 1944 he was hired by the colonial government to manage its press division, and the following year he was made editor-in-chief of a new publication, La Voix du Congolais. Bolamba held much influence in the city of Léopoldville and frequently discussed the social implications of colonialism. He also began writing poetry, and in 1956 he released a collection entitled Esanzo: Chants pour mon pays, which articulated his Mongo and Congolese identity.

In 1959 La Voix du Congolais ceased publication. Bolamba, a self-described liberal, grew increasingly involved in politics and founded the Parti de l'Indépendance et de la Liberté. In early 1960 Patrice Lumumba convinced him to join his own party, the Mouvement National Congolais. Though he failed to secure a parliamentary seat in the 1960 elections, he was appointed Secretary of State for Information and Cultural Affairs in the Congo's first independent government. After independence his rhetoric turned sharply against Belgium, and he denounced the country in numerous radio broadcasts. He also began to employ more violent imagery in his writing. In September, President Joseph Kasa-Vubu dismissed him from his post. Under Cyrille Adoula's premiership, Bolamba returned to government work, holding advisory and staffing responsibilities until his appointment as Minister of Information and Tourism in April 1963. He led the ministry until July 1964. He thereafter held press and administrative responsibilities for the office of the presidency, while his output of literature decreased. In 1979 he was given a press position at the state party, the Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution. He died in 2002.

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