At rally in Paris: Kamto vows will be presidential candidate.

Kamto, who is leader of the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement, MRC, party made the declaration while addressing thousands of supporters and sympathisers at a rally in Paris, France, on Saturday, May 31, 2025.

Beyond touching on several sensitive issues bordering on the functioning of the polity, Kamto told the crowd and the Biya regime that there is no room for argument vis-à-vis the law and him running for President come October.

Being the first time he was commenting on the issue that has split public opinion, Kamto said he has maintained his calm because there is nothing to worry about.

The debate is growing on the strength that the MRC boycotted the 2020 twin polls and so lacks elected officials to be able to invest a candidate in the poll.

Even with other herculean options as spelled out in Article 121 of the Electoral Code, Kamto, a renowned Constitutional Law professor, sounded confident. Kamto boasted that he will be a candidate in the upcoming election.

“You see, I don’t have time to be talking about whether I will be a candidate or not. This is because it is a fake problem. They are wasting your time with that. There is no judicial obstacle to my candidature. I mean, none to my candidature in the next presidential election. I say it very well, there is none,” Kamto told the audience.

Seek jurists worth the salt to interpret laws

The MRC leader described arguments that the boycott of the 2020 polls already prevented the party from fielding a candidate in the presidential election as being a “fallacious argument”.

He remarked that: “I don’t want to be debating. You know very well, I have been quiet and polite, but I say sincerely, and advise these persons to go and look for a jurist and not those who flood TV panels but know nothing about the law. Even in the Diaspora, they would be told there is no obstacle to my candidacy. I want to say this, I have the impression sometimes that our friends who spend their time in the kitchen cabinet want to create difficulties for people and generate confusion”.

‘Postponing twin polls won’t favour regime’

Prof Kamto said after working against the MRC in 2020, the regime illegally postponed twin polls, which he said were supposed to have taken place in February this year.

He stated that despite the manipulation of the regime, “they see that after everything, there was supposed to be twin elections in February 2025, but they said, what we can do. They violated the constitution and postponed the election to 2026”.

Kamto added that: “They taught they had solved the problem. But except, like an excellent jurist said, the combination of Article 121 [of the Electoral Code] and the disposition of Article 15 (3) of the constitution makes my candidature possible”.

He stated that the issue around his candidacy has made even those grounded in law to become foolish. Others, he claimed, have torn their PhD theses to take up quarter arguments to television sets.

Kamto stated that the situation is now a threat to society and raises the question of what the law experts he doesn’t agree with are teaching students in universities.

“I ask, because it is a serious problem to the education of our children. What are they teaching our children in amphitheaters?”, he thundered.

‘Jealous people allow us organise rallies in Cameroon’

Kamto also said he is aware that despite the success of his Paris rally, jealous people within the Biya regime would say he visited Paris just to make noise.

The MRC leader dared the regime to allow his party organise its rallies in Cameroon without hindrances. Under such circumstances, he declared that: “We will do 10 times more”.

Nothing will happen to Biya if I am voted President

While crusading unity among his supporters in preparation for what he said is a huge push to achieve change, Kamto said the security of President Biya will not be under threat if he gets to the Unity Palace.

Kamto said it is a promise he made in 2018 and is ready to keep. The MRC leader added that he doesn’t have time for hate but is committed to building Cameroon.

Promises dual, multinational citizenship

The MRC leader, among other specific issues, said if voted Head of State, he will institute a dual nationality and multinational citizenship law.

Kamto argued that Cameroon has a diaspora with quality human resource more than all the countries of the world. The diaspora, he added, is a huge resource for development that must be exploited to boost development.

“I am the first politician to have raised the problem of the diaspora in the discourse of politics in Cameroon,” he declared.

Dreaming to surprise the world

The MRC presidential aspirant declared that he has a dream to rally support and surprise the world come October 2025.

While arguing that the country has become a laughing stock with everyone predicting chaos, come October, he said he believes in mobilising popular support to achieve change, through the ballot box.

“…it is the battle of everyone. It is the battle of the Cameroonian people. The biggest of political battles in Cameroon’s history,” Prof Kamto averred, adding that: “I dream that Cameroon will surprise the entire world by achieving change through the ballot box”.

He nevertheless said there are radicals and extremists within the Biya regime who don’t want to see it happen. Kamto warned that come what may, he is ready with supporters to dance whatever music is played on the country’s political scene.

“This is a country where everything is bad. Children have nothing to look up to. Everything has been destroyed. After 43 years, it is okay and in October, we are saying it is finished,” the former minister noted.

He reiterated his claim that his victory was stolen in the 2018 presidential poll. Kamto asked: “What have they done with the stolen victory?”.

Message from Senegal

About the inspiration from Senegal, wherein a regime change was achieved, Kamto regretted that most Cameroonians have not yet grasped the message.

The Senegalese experience, he intimated, warrants sacrifice from the population, especially young people and not solely political leaders.

He argued that if things don’t change in 2025, young people should take the blame and not only political actors.

Domesticating lessons from Senegal

“If we fail in 2025, it is the responsibility of the Cameroonian people. Young Senegalese fought throughout in 2023 and 2024,” he observed, before warning that: “Don’t take Cameroonians for fools. I pray we don’t pass through violence”.

Inclusive negotiation to end Anglophone crisis

On Anglophone crisis, Kamto said he is in support of inclusive negotiation to address the issue from the roots.

He promised that if voted Head of State, his first outing will be to visit the North West and South West Regions to deliver a message of peace.

Hon Nintcheu, Prof Abah Oyono drum support

Other speakers at the rally were the renowned academic, Prof Abah Oyono, who said he is of the civil society that supports all opposition candidates and Hon Nintcheu Jean Nitchel.

Prof Abah said Cameroon would have been better if parliamentarians did not remove term limits for the post of office of the President of the Republic in 2008.

By that act, he opined that the dreams of Cameroonian were killed and the country has remained blocked on all fronts till date.

To get out of what he sees as an impasse, Prof Abah said it is left for Cameroonians to be conscious of themselves and decide who rules them.

Another way out, he noted, “resides in the capacity of the opposition to take its responsibility. Kamto knows my energy in pushing for a coalition. Every opposition candidate wants to be a candidate at the expense of the population”.

Prof Abah said Kamto had worked with the system and can better fight against it. He declared that: “The MRC has no problem of financing its campaign”. He asked Kamto to take his “responsibility to safe Cameroonians. We have less than five months to change things”.

Nintcheu says 2025 not 2025

Speaking under the banner of Coordinator of the Political Alliance for Change, PAC, which supports Kamto, fiery opposition Member of Parliament, Hon Nintcheu, said everyone must register, collect their voter’s card and cast their ballot on voting day.

He urged those in attendance to also ensure relatives back home do same to end what Nintcheu reads as 43 years of President Biya’s “calamitous” rule. PAC, he announced, will not tolerate electoral fraud” come October.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3462 of Monday June 02, 2025