Biya’s long stay abroad: When silence breathes misinformation.

It got to a climax on Tuesday, when a fake televised video on the social media showed a woman announcing that "uncertainty and apprehension hangs over Cameroon, as the Head of State has died…”. 

Like the dry season wildfire in the grassfield of the North West Region, the false news spread on the networks.

Within a twinkle of an eye when the vicious video of  disinformation went viral on the social media and  in the Cameroonian public, reactions came in from the Communication Secretary of the CPDM, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, who is also Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education; Grégoire Owona, Minister of Labour and Social Security, who doubles as Deputy Secretary General of the CPDM; Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, Director of Civil Cabinet at the Presidency; Rene Emmanuel Sadi, Minister of Communication and Government’s Spokesman, and the Cameroon High Commissioner in South Africa, Solomon Azi-Mbi.

In denouncing the fake news, Prof Fame Ndongo, one time Minister of Communication, said it was "devoid of any foundation" and just a "phantasmagorical stratagem that must not shake the political maturity, lucidity and patriotism of Cameroonians and friends of our dear and beautiful country".

In taking the cue, Minister Grégoire Owona warned that: "Those who try by various means to mislead public opinion by announcing the death of the Cameroonian Head of State must pay the high price, following such a gross lie. Since they no longer have any human conscience, the appropriate institutions must crack down on these impostors wherever they come from and wherever they broadcast”.

What is however important to patriotic Cameroonians is that the President is in Switzerland, working from there and in "excellent health," as detailed in a statement issued by the Minister, Director of Civil Cabinet of the Presidency, Samuel Mvolo Ayolo, dated on October 8.

It quells the rumours, speculations and fake news that have been circulating in the air since the Head of State left the country a month ago.

The misinformation, which the Cameroon High Commission in South Africa has attributed to separatist fighters often referred to as Amba Boys, was, however, caused by government officials who failed to keep Cameroonians abreast of the whereabouts of their cherished leader, who at 91, some of his acolytes do not want him to take a deserved retirement.

Even before ABS sent out their satanic spin, the silence had prompted the former American Secretary of State for African Affairs, Tibor Nagy, to create shock wave in the Cameroonian and international political sphere, by announcing the hospitalisation of President Paul Biya in Geneva. His propaganda, made via a tweet, raised many questions about the state of health of the Cameroonian leader and the political future of the country.

Unlike in other democracies where the health bill of their leader is public knowledge, it is a taboo in Cameroon. 

In 1998, Pius Njawe, the late Publisher of Le Messeger, was convicted of "spreading false news" and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a 500,000 FCFA fine after publishing an article which merely raised the possibility that the president had suffered heart trouble during the Cameroon Cup final on December 21, 1997.

Since presidential health is not subject to public scrutiny in Cameroon, the current prolong absence in the country linked to health issues by the rumour mills is not the first time. 

In 2004, the president had a long stay in Switzerland. Rumours were peddled that he had passed on. When he arrived at the Nsimalen International Airport on June 9, 2004, he joked that: "People are interested in my funeral. I give them an appointment in 20 years".

It was interpreted as a premonition potentially setting the date of his death in June 2024, at the age of 91.

It did not come to pass and the mystery surrounding the president’s health, which is protected by medical confidentiality persists, since he has not been known to have been hospitalised in the past 41 years in power.

There are reports that "President Biya maintains a robust appearance, attributed to his sober lifestyle and his love for cycling," which at 91, however, does not make him as fit as a fiddle. 

Even if he needs to have some rest to stay out of the country and work from there, the communication machinery of the CPDM and government should tell Cameroonians, and not to act in panic when rumours get into their sensitive skins. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3255 of Thursday October 10, 2024