A day with President Paul Biya!.

As The Guardian Post reported yesterday, it was the first time he was seen since February 10, 2025, when he addressed the youth on television after a month earlier when he received New Year wishes from select compatriots and members of the diplomatic corps.

His appearance on the National Day would have been déjà vu if he had constantly communed with his compatriots in distress or peers in such global issues like the swearing-in of a Cameroonian as the President of the United Nations General Assembly or the funeral of Pope Francis, whom he had the blessings of an audience with.

President Biya, who, at one point in his 43 years at the helm of State was described by some cynics as "globe-trotting President", has been absent at the world stage, though with representations.

Even with the bloody conflict in the North West and South West Regions, which has claimed more than 6,000 lives, created hundreds of refugees and about half a million internally displaced, the president has never visited any of the Regions to evaluate the situation on the ground!

Though his government has classified the two Regions as "risky zones", his acolytes continue to say the situation is "normalising", which is true as observed by the successful celebration of the National Day in Buea, Bamenda and other Divisional headquarters like Limbe, Kumba, Nkambe etc.

His party supporters in the North West Region have invited him to launch his presidential campaign in Bamenda where, the ‘youth’ raised some seven million FCFA to support his campaign, if he decides to take a controversial eighth term. The Guardian Post hopes he will accept the invitation from his "second home".

His prolonged absence in the hot spots of the Regions and international events, coupled with the delegation of his signature, has raised worries among compatriots who wonder aloud what he does.

When Shehu Shagari was President of neighbouring Nigeria, a similar concern frequently propped up and he invited seasoned journalist, Dele Giwa (now of blessed memory), not from the government media, generally perceived as propaganda machines of those in power, but from the independent media to the State House.

The beat was not to interview the President, but to observe and report on his activities for the day. The late Dele and his photographer arrived and the three had breakfast at 7a.m. As he reported later, the President flipped through the newspapers of the day over breakfast as they occasionally chatted.

They left for the office by 7:30 a.m. At 11 a.m, Dele Giwa took an excuse to leave and was told "you have not finished to see how the President works in a day", as he later reported, citing several telephone calls, audiences and signing of documents as they watched the President worked.

That of course did not include meetings and visits to other parts of the country, where there were natural disasters. It is a narrative of a day with the Nigerian President, which of course varies from country to country. 

What is however identical is that each leader communes with the people he governs, especially when there are natural disasters and internal bloody conflicts.

President Biya has been sending representatives, which is his legal prerogatives, but his compatriots need to feel him when they are in distress, especially on the eve of a crucial election like that coming up in October this year.

In recent times, President Biya has been on social media, articulating his vision for the country. On Tuesday, he tweeted with an exclamation: "Happy National Day to All Cameroonians!"

His spin doctors elaborated on the laconic message as meaning: "The Head of State's commitment to the values of peace, unity, and living together. May 20 is a highly symbolic date for Cameroon. It marks the country's achievement of national unity in 1972, when the Cameroonian people, through a referendum, decided to transition from a Federal to a Unitary State".

But he needs to move round and personally observe the dilapidated state of road infrastructure, understand the feeling of millions who could not watch him at the National Day celebration, even in urban centres, because there was no electricity, or because of the stench coming from mountains of garbage strewn all over the major towns in the country.

He needs to make unannounced visits to hospitals to see for himself the absence of drugs in their pharmacies, see compatriots in the Far North Region drink water from muddy wells and "ghost towns" in the North West and South West Regions every Monday that have paralysed socio-economic life.

With such frequent visits, Cameroonians, though familiar with his degrees and high instructions, may not need to ask how their President works, but feel him in their frustration and get first-hand assurance how he plans to resolve those challenges.

Even if the President’s old age may not permit the dexterity for a frequent national tour, why not invite the media to have a day with him to let Cameroonians know that the apex office is far more than delegation of signature and high instructions?

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3452 of Thursday May 22, 2025