Parliament: Session of uncertainty at Senate opens.

Such speculations have become traditional for years but hardly have there been any changes. 
But this time around, the legislative chamber most present under the spyglass of many is the Senate. 
In its 11 years existence since 2013, the ill health of its president, Niat Njifenji Marcel, has been the subject of on-and-off political debates.
Being the second personality in the State protocol after the Head of State, eyes are often more than present on Niat’s moves. 
What has however remained a subject of debate is his regularity in conducting the affairs of the Senate.
Even in cases wherein he has been absent, the Senate President has always somehow, found himself present at strategic meetings. Such spectacular presence has always left bookmakers speechless.  
But this year, work is resuming at the Upper House of Parliament in a context similar to others. 
Niat has not been spotted in public since after the closing of the November 2023 session of parliament on December 9, 2023. 
It became more burdensome and evident that, Niat might be in a difficult situation when he didn’t show up to present 2024 New Year wishes to the Head of State, Paul Biya, at the Unity Palace, on January 6, 2024.
It was rather the First Vice Senate President, Aboubakary Abdoulaye, who headed the Senate Bureau to present New Year wishes to Biya on that occasion.
Senator Abdoulaye, who is also the Lamido of Rey Bouba in the North Region, was not sitting in for Niat for the first time. It has become almost normal that he runs certain key Senate assignments which are reserved for Niat.  
The Senate it itself has never issued a release on such developments. 
Rather, it is the political chessboard that has in such situations as it is now, that, is always left with calculations that always fail to produce anything new.

Context of session, why Niat should be present
The extra interest in the March session of parliament always provokes debates due to the election of new bureaus at the Senate and National Assembly. 
Little or nothing has rarely been expected to change at the National Assembly, given that its long serving Speaker, Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, is often regularly around. He is not often associated with medical trips like Niat at the level of the Senate.
But with Niat’s noticeable long absence from public view, the old speculations have been revived as to whether the CPDM party will invest him again. It is this context that has always left many hopping for surprises. 
Many are thus expecting Niat to answer present, if not today, but in the course of the 30-day long session to retain his position when his peers vote.
The standing orders of the Senate promulgated into law on October 27, 2016, makes it clear that the bureau of the senate is elected for a one-year term renewable. 
Thus, it will be the oldest and two youngest senators who will be running the show throughout the session, pending the election of a Senate President.

Closed-open provision in standing orders 
With Niat’s presence at this elective session still in the balance, there have been questions on what the Standing Orders of the Senate says. Law No.2016/011 of 27 October 27, 2016, modifying and complementing certain provisions of Law no.2013/006 of June 10 on  the Standing Orders of the Senate is where many expect to get answers. The big question for many has been if Senator Niat can be re-elected President of the Senate without being present?
The Law states in its Chapter III, Article 15 (3), that the eldest Senator, after voting should immediately invite the president-elect to occupy the seat of Senate president.  
This provision, analysts have said, is inadvertently clear that for Niat to be reelected as Senate president, he must be present.
The rest of the bureau members are voted after the election of the Senate President as stipulated in Article 17 (1) of the same Standing Orders. 
This, it is also being said, makes for a good dose of work that warrants the presence of the Senate president.
Niat to make last minute arrival?
Amid the calculations across the board, many are saying Niat may miss today’s opening session but springs a surprise presence in the course of the sitting. For one thing, bureau elections are not done on the first day.
Analysts say it could as well be done on the last day or any other day within the period of the session. 
This alone, it is being said, gives enough room for any last minute political rush for the native of the West Region to retain his seat.

Niat’s situation giving many pipedreams
The attention on Niat has its undertones linked to the position of who a Senate President is in the Cameroonian context. 
Given that the post takes whoever occupies it closer to the pinnacle of power, many politicians, especially of the ruling CPDM, have been having fantasies about it.
As many times as Niat has been flown out of the country for medical attention, analysts are saying, there have been several Senate Presidents in waiting.  
Most, if not all, they say, will never occupy the seat. Some are reported to have often used such windows of Niat’s absence to try to push an agenda that may offset the political setup of the country.
Evidently, it is traditionally believed that if the Senate Presidency leaves the West Region, Biya would have to retouch the geopolitical power sharing architecture of the country.  
The game, many say, is that either he maintains Niat, or gets another loyal supporter from the same Region and catapult to the Senate top job or shifts the cart elsewhere. 
If this happens, the makeup of the entire Senate bureau will suffer changes. The same would be felt at the National Assembly and the Star Building. 
This, analysts argue, answers the uninterrupted interest across the board on Niat’s wellbeing.