On Wednesday, supporters commemorated 42 years of Cameroonian President Paul Biya’s rule with rallies, special broadcasts, and demands for an eighth term.Members of the president’s party are being called upon to demonstrate their fervent support, just more than two weeks after the 91-year-old returned to the nation following a six-week absence due to widespread rumours about his health.
(FILES) Cameroon President Paul Biya delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Provence during World War II, at the Boulouris National Cemetery (“necropole nationale”) in Boulouris-sur-Mer, south eastern France, on August 15, 2024. (Photo by Christophe SIMON / POOL / AFP)
In a letter to party members, Jean Nkuete, secretary general of the central committee of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC), urged them to unite behind President Paul Biya in order to secure Cameroon’s stability and advancement.The letter, which was released late last month as part of the preparations, hailed Biya’s “fantastic record” and demanded that “malicious speculation and predictions” about the leader—who assumed power in 1982 following Ahmadou Ahidjo’s resignation—end.
It went on to say that “the Cameroonian people are the people of respect for age and elders,” urging support for one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders to be re-elected in October.A few branches of the party responded quickly to the call.A motion inviting “all Cameroonians, without discrimination based on political opinion, to join us in our call for the candidature of the President of the Republic Paul Biya” was signed by dozens of supporters and activists in the west.
Higher Education Minister and RDPC communication official Jacques Fame Ndongo also “solemnly requested” that Biya stand again during a documentary screening in the southern town of Ebolowa honouring “Paul Biya, a great statesman with a prodigious destiny.”Biya ‘silence’In keeping with his customary silence on the matter, Biya has given no indication of his intentions.
He has not named a successor either; it is still taboo to discuss who will take his place.Human rights activists claim that Biya strengthened his autocratic hold on power following hotly contested elections in 2018 and that dissenting views were met with repression, arrests, and jail sentences.
Many questions were raised by his protracted absence after departing Beijing at the start of September after a summit on China-Africa cooperation.Authorities took the unprecedented step of issuing a statement on October 8 stating that the president was well, working from Switzerland, and would return home in a few days due to health rumours.
Biya, who has previously travelled to Switzerland for extended periods of time for medical treatment or to stay at upscale vacation spots, returned to Cameroon on October 21 to a thunderous reception from his entourage.Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the secretary general of the presidency, and his wife Chantal met him at Yaounde airport, although there was a lift nearby to help passengers with limited mobility.In an attempt to maintain control, he has since signed several decrees, including a series of military appointments, according to his supporters.
On CRTV state television on Saturday, Gregoire Owona, the deputy secretary for his party, stated that the president “is working hard for his country” and “knows the issues well.”A beaming Biya greets Gabon’s high commissioner at the presidential palace in pictures the president released last week.Since his return, these are the president’s only photos.Outlining what it refers to as Biya’s “intense” diplomatic activities takes up about 50 pages of the most recent edition of the presidential civil office’s magazine, “Time of Opportunity.”
In a piece that appeared in the Cameroon Tribune on Monday, CRTV chief Charles Ndongo summed up the longevity of the oldest head of state in the world by citing “absence, distance, and silence.”
