2025 presidentials: Rule of law on trial!.

But the media is replete with reports of governance "outside the law". 

As The Guardian Post reported yesterday, based on a well-researched report by Prof Viviane Ondoua Biwolé, 71 Board Chairpersons out of 112 public companies, are illegally holding their positions, blatantly exceeding the maximum term limit, set by a July 2017 law.

In her damning report, the scholar reveals shocking figures, indicating a non-compliance rate of 63.4% in 2025, compared to 85% in 2023, for public companies alone.

Potentially, they violate administrative acts, creating legal uncertainty for investors and partners. It is a complete disregard for leadership rotation, which is a key principle for preventing stagnation and corruption.

Even worse, some Board Chairpersons have been in office for over 30 years, raising serious concerns about efficiency and transparency in public management.

Given the inertia in government, there is no guarantee that the situation will be corrected before the coming presidential poll.

To add to issues of the rule of law, which is being used by government apologists to disqualify MRC leader, Prof Maurice Kamto, from challenging the incumbent.

In August 2021, the President of the Cameroon Democratic Front, FDC, Denis Emilien Atangana, filed a complaint at the Constitutional Council to denounce the continued tenure of 18 General Managers at the helm of public enterprises.

He said it was a flagrant violation of law Nos. 2017/10 and 2017/11 of July 12, 2017, which stipulate that the cumulative terms of office of General Managers and Deputies cannot exceed six years.

In paragraph 4 of Article 70 of Law 2017/11, all acts taken by the officials beyond their mandates are null and void. 

The matter was a dead letter. We have not said "hands were tied"!

Again, in December 2020, in a decree, the Presidency of the Republic termed as "a clear indication that the Father of the Nation has an attentive ear for their worries and is always ready to meet the aspirations". The retirement age of civil servants was harmonised and the ceiling set at 60 years.

But two years ago, there were reports that "at least eight of the country's current 10 Governors are above the age of 60. They are not politicians or entrepreneurs who have no retirement age limits". At the moment, all of the ten Regional Governors are on bonus time. 

The hottest potato in the mouth of the ruling party now is an accusation from its own official that the leader of ruling party has outlived his elected mandate.

At the centre of what is being described in the media as a "test of the rule of law" is Léon Theiller Onana, a municipal councillor at the CPDM-run Council in Monatélé.

He is arguing that the CPDM cannot legally nominate a presidential candidate for the October election without first holding an Ordinary Congress, as required by the party’s own internal rules.

It is public knowledge that the last congress held in 2011, and President Paul Biya elected for a five-year mandate. 

It was extended in 2016, ahead of the 2018 presidential election. No new congress has been convened since and Onana holds that only a court can appoint an ad hoc representative tasked with organising the congress and setting its agenda.

Not satisfied with the decision of the Court of First Instance in Yaounde, he has again petitioned the elections monitoring body, ELECAM, to reject a CPDM candidate unless the party’s internal legal process has been properly followed.

According to legal commentators, a fast-track legal procedure is underway to determine whether the CPDM congress must be held before the 2025 election; an outcome that could significantly reshape the political landscape within the ruling party.

There are other reports that the mandate of some members of the Higher Judiciary Council, which is supposed to meet yearly, last held on August 10, 2020, has expired, needing a replacement. 

With at least six members dead and Marafa Yaya in prison, it is also said it lacks a quorum for a legal sitting.

Nobody needs to be a legal expert to understand that given "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth", mandates of some Board Chairs with a maximum of six, General Managers with a ceiling at nine and that of the CPDM Chair who is the party's natural candidate, have expired as by laws available to the public.

As Dwight D. Eisenhower said: "The world no longer has a choice between force and law; if civilisation is to survive, it must choose the rule of law".

To paraphrase him, Cameroon has no choice between the force of strong men, which is a trigger of violence, and the rule of law, which ensures peace, justice and security. 

At The Guardian Post, the CPDM regime has an obligation, duty and responsibility to choose peace, which is why we call on the powers that be to set its house in order before the coming October presidential election. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3479 of Friday June 20, 2025