He was raised in Swedish mission schools and grew into adulthood in the period when the prophetism of Simon Kimbangu and the political agitation for independence by the Association des Bakongo (ABAKO) was reaching its peak.
In 1981, while visiting his parents' village in Zaire, he was arrested by the government of Mobutu Sese-Seko for possessing a paper he had authored that was deemed 'subversive', and was detained for one year.
The announcement of the award cited his "scholarly contribution to the development of African philosophy and for sparking off the philosophical debate on social and political themes in Africa."
At the beginning of the Second Congo War against the government of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, Wamba was unanimously elected head of the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD), which was backed by Uganda and Rwanda and based in the town of Goma.
The two factions shortly engaged in fierce battles in Kisangani, following which Wamba retreated to Bunia in the Ituri region of the northeastern DRC.
In 2001, Wamba denounced a Ugandan proposal to unite the RCD-K, RCD-ML and Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) as an unwelcome foreign imposition.
This action, which took place as the Ituri conflict continued escalating, was seen by some members of the Lendu ethnic group as a support against[clarification needed] what they saw as the pro-Hema bias of Uganda.
[4][5] In the last years of his life, Wamba remained politically active, running reading groups with young activists in Kinshasa and engaging popular organisations across the continent,[1] including Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa.