Editorial: Mystery over Biya's absence, ecumenical service!.

What has, however, been official has emanated from the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, with a reassuring statement insisting on "the excellent state of health of the Head of State, …working from Geneva". 

Another official declaration came from the Minister of Communication and Government Spokesman, René Emmanuel Sadi, who added that "the Head of State is doing well and will return to Cameroon in the coming days".

It's been more than a week. The nation waits in suspense fueled by another controversy not from the obscured ABS separatist television channel with its fake news but from some of the close collaborators of the Head of State.

An ecumenical prayer service was scheduled at the Yaounde Multipurpose Sports Complex on October 17, 2024. 

It was initiated by the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, under the banner of the Collectif des Anciens des Seminaires Catholiques du Cameroun, CASEMCA, a grouping of former Catholic seminarians of Cameroon.

The objective, according to the organisers, was to bring Cameroonians of all religious beliefs to "honour the Head of State for his service to the country and call for peace and harmony in Cameroon, in a context where the country is facing various challenges".

As different interpretations for the religious service were spreading on the social media and beer parlour gossips, the service was "cancelled," setting another controversy.

In a terse press release signed on Monday, October 14, 2024, Minister Henri Eyebe Ayissi, told anxious Cameroonians that the inter-religious prayers that were to be held on Thursday, October 17, 2024, had been put off.

For the member of the government, it is desirable that inter-religious prayers be rather scheduled when the Head of State returns to the country. And therefore, there is reason to postpone the said prayers to a later date.

As reported by the BBC, the "cancellation, announced as a postponement, is causing tensions within the government…”.

The BBC report added that: “A political controversy is currently shaking Cameroon, following the ban on an ecumenical mass planned for President Paul Biya. According to sources, this decision, which was reportedly taken by the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, is creating turmoil and tension within the government".

Many political pundits did not understand the real motive for an ecumenical service for a Head of State, who is known to be a devout Catholic Christian.

If it was really intended to pray for some divine afflatus to solve the problems in Cameroon, why wait until the long absence of the Head of State? Has the religious service been postponed or was it proscribed?

Whatever the answers, what remains of anxiety, tension and concern is the unusually long vacation of the Head of State from his seat of power. 

Although President Biya is known to have frequently taken short private visits to have some rest, this has been the longest stay out of the country.

The Guardian Post, going back memory lane, recalls that one of his former communication ministers, Prof Augustine Kontou Koumengni, once said President Biya has so organised his government to the point that he doesn't necessarily need to be in Yaounde before it functions normally.

But when such a vacation for whatever reason becomes so long and with presidential elections expected next year, issues of succession bubbling in the country and conflicts still raging in the North West, South West and Far North Regions, panic is bound to swirl.

The BBC, citing "several Cameroonian analysts and experts" it interviewed, writes that: "Paul Biya has been regular in this kind of situation since he came to power in November 1982. He is a leader who likes to give free rein to rumours about himself...only to reappear in a sort of triumphant return".

Surely, there will be a triumphant welcome with dance groups at the Nsimalen International Airport to receive the president and possibly an inter-religious service to pray for God's divine grace for the solutions to the myriads of challenges the nation faces.

But the mystery, suspense and anxiety of such a long holiday, should be brought to an end with a definitive date the president will arrive the country.

Without such clarification, flattery, hypocrisy, suspense and all sorts of conspiracy theories are fabricated.

Hence, as Ambrose Bierce writes in The Devil’s Dictionary, “an overmastering desire to be vilified by enemies while living and made ridiculous by friends when dead,” becomes a mystery of destruction as it enters into the emotions of society.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3266 of Monday October 21, 2024