Editorial: At 91, Biya's succession still a mystery.

President Biya

By the Cameroon constitution, if by whatever reason, President Paul Biya, who celebrated his 91st birthday on Tuesday, vacates office, the President of the Senate, Marcel Niat Njifenji, 90, will take over power.

The constitution is unequivocal that within a period between 20 and 120 days, the Senate President will organise an election to choose a new president. If the President of the Senate is not available, he or she is replaced by the first and subsequent deputies by order of seniority.



The law prohibits the interim president from being a candidate for that election, altering the composition of the government, modifying the constitution or organising a referendum. 

If President Biya vacates the office of the President of the Republic, for any reason and in any manner, all that needs to be done is to strictly apply these rules that have been laid down so clearly by the constitution.

With that constitutional unambiguity, why have Cameroonians been worried and even engaging in subterranean warfare of succession? Why have names, even including that of President Biya’s eldest son, Frank, been coming up for succession as if the Presidency of Cameroon is hereditary?

Why worry even when some CPDM sycophants have, out of egocentric interest or hypocrisy, been referring to Biya as "God-sent" and should even run for another seven-year term of office next year at 92, which should, if he wins, take him to 99?   

It is against that background of begging unanswered questions that during a joint press conference with French President, Emmanuel Macron, in Yaounde that President Biya was asked if he would run for re-election next year [2025].

His answer was still a mystery as he said: “As you know, Cameroon is governed in accordance with its constitution. According to this constitution, the mandate that I lead has a duration of seven years. So, try subtracting seven, four or three and you will know how much time I have left to run the country. But otherwise, it will be known when this mandate expires [in 2025, when he will be 92]. You will be informed about whether I am staying or going to the village”.

For some years now, especially with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, the president has often been represented at major national and international events by close aids.

So, it was no surprise that in the two paramount events to commemorate his 91st birthday, he was represented at the Yaounde Multipurpose Sports Complex by the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, and at another event in the South Region by the Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency of the Republic, Samuel Mvondo Ayolo.

A Thanksgiving Mass was organised for the President, a Catholic, in his native village of Koum Yétotan in Meyomessala, South Region, where the Director of Cabinet at the Presidency, Samuel Ayolo, stood in for the celebrant, who the priest wished long life and God's guidance.

The Yaounde event at the Multipurpose Sports Complex was more political with the Unity Palace scribe, Ngoh Ngoh, in the company of numerous ministers, addressing guests who trooped in from the seven Subdivisions of Mfoundi Division of the Centre Region, belonging to the CPDM, various civil society organisations, youth groups and associations and the Universities of Yaounde I and II among others. 

The nexus was “Happy birthday Mr. President of the Republic, Paul Biya!”. 

With a gloss of the simulation of the past, Ngoh Ngoh said Biya knows the expectations of Cameroonian youth and questioned rhetorically: “Who can love you more than him?”

The Guardian Post is in agreement with Ngoh Ngoh that President Biya knows, not only the expectations of the youth, but that of the entire country, irrespective of political, ethnic or religious sensibilities.

The 10 top posts that he has held in government justifies such knowledge:

October 1962: Project manager at the Presidency of the Republic; January 1964: Director of Cabinet of the Minister of National Education, Youth and Culture; July 1965: Secretary General of the Ministry of National Education, Youth and Culture; December 1967: Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President of the Republic; January 1968: Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic; August 1968: Minister, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic; June 1970: Minister of State, Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic; June 1975: Prime Minister of the United Republic of Cameroon; June 1979: Law No. 79/02 of June 29, 1979 made him the constitutional successor of the President of the Republic and November 6, 1982: Second President in the history of Republic of Cameroon, which he has held for 41 years. He will clock 42 years in power next year, when his current mandate expires.

In addition to those positions, President Biya is the Founder/Chairman of the ruling CPDM, Chairman of the Higher Judiciary Council, Grand Master of the National Orders and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.

In those positions, he is abreast with the expectations and aspirations of Cameroonians. 

But given his age, which is a blessing, we at this daily newspaper, drawing from medical science, are of the opinion that he needs a deserved rest in 2025.

To decipher the mystery of his succession, he should organise a CPDM congress, in the first place which is long overdue, at which the new chairman of the party will be the "natural candidate of the party" at next year's presidential poll.

In the meantime, we wish Mr. President long life, God’s protection, good health and wisdom to know when the ovation is fizzling out.

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