‘Missing’ Biya returns to Yaounde.

The Prime Minister, Head of Government, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute and the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, received the Presidential Couple, at the Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport upon arrival.

Emerging from the plane, President Biya, exchanged for a few minutes, with the Prime Minister and the senior clerk at the Presidency, before taking off for the Unity Palace.

It should be recalled that Paul and Chantal Biya, left Yaounde on June 23, 2023. Then, they headed for Paris, where the Head of State took part in the New Global Financial Pact Summit. 

The international confab ended two days later but the Cameroonian leader and wife, opted for a brief private stay abroad.

President Biya has thus returned to the country at a time when, some critics had begun raising concerns over his exact whereabouts. 

Others had taken to different platforms, questioning his whereabouts, given that the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency failed to update the citizenry on his movements after the Paris Summit.

Though often criticised for always spending time abroad, President Biya, has however in recent times reduced his sojourns out of the country.

To President Biya’s credit, pundits hold, is the fact that though out of the country for a little over a month, he did not only keep pace with happenings back home but signed two decrees. The most recent of his fiats from abroad was that which placed Major General Ngambo Esaie in the second section of the military. It was signed on July 5.

Though the decision generated public debates, Ngambo, who had emerged in a video criticising the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, some believe may have been given a subtle message for disrespecting an appointee of the one who incarnates the institutions of the country. Placing such a high military officer in the second section is considered as retirement, according to analysts.

Meanwhile, on July 4, the Head of State appointed Directors, Secretaries General and Deans of Faculties in some state universities. 

This was the case with veteran journalist of CRTV fame and Journalism tutor, Dr Francois Marc Modzom, who was named Director of the Advanced School of Mass Communication, on July 4.

With President Biya now back to the country, there are growing speculations that, he may, in the days ahead, make more appointments.

Cameroonians had been anxiously waiting for a Dion Ngute-proposed government, since his appointment as Prime Minister, Head of Government, on January 4, 2019.

Political watchers say the Head of State might have decided to stay back in Europe, after the Paris Summit, to formulate the highly expected government, especially given that some of the members of government who have died, have not been replaced.