South Region: Fame Ndongo fires back at authors of anti-Biya missive.

Fame Ndongo replied to the declaration which stirred public debate through a release he issued, dated Thursday, June 19. 

He questioned if the authors of the letter want to change Paul Biya whom he referred to as the one through whom change came.

Before delving into analysing the position of the eight elite that provoked his letter, Fame Ndongo asked the people of the South Region to reject their message. 

He condemned what he said is “parricide politics” being that of persons trying to destroy their own.

Prof Fame Ndongo who is the Communication Secretary of the CPDM Central Committee, member of the party’s political bureau cum Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education, did not indicate in what capacity he was replying the letter.

He tackled those who wrote the letter, insisting that in politics, it is baseless out rightly condemning someone without presenting anything different. 

He questioned what the eight authors of the piece whom he qualified as “sour eight” have to offer to the population of not only the South Region but Cameroon in general.

Fame Ndongo said with presidential poll in October, the population must guard against people who are “selling the wind” to the electorate. He argued that such persons in reality have nothing to show for other than deception.

The CPDM South Region leader insisted that those who wrote the document can’t claim President Paul Biya has not achieved anything in his area of origin in his 43 years leadership. 

He questioned how the authors of the letter failed to mention other roads and development projects in the administrative and focused on only what they think has not be done.

What freedom are they promising?

In the view of Fame Ndongo, the group of eight South Region elite who issued the release cannot be promising Cameroonians freedom. 

He questioned what kind of freedom they are talking about, insisting that since the enactment of the 1990 liberty laws, Biya opened up Cameroon.

Fame Ndongo cited the ability of the authors to freely exercise their opinion as being part of the freedom Biya brought to Cameroon. He insisted that politics must not be done through denigrating others.

“There is no paradise anywhere…”

The higher education minister challenged what he sees as those who wrote the anti-Biya piece trying to promise heaven on earth to citizens.  He remarked in his note that: “There is no paradise anywhere under the sun”.

The South Region CPDM boss insisted that: “Much has been done by the Head of State. Much is still to be done with him. He invited us to create great opportunities in every domain…”.

He added that: “What Biya has done with the examination of Cameroonians of good will is multidimensional, flamboyant. There is much still to be done with the support of even those who want to ostracize the Head of State”.

According to Fame Ndongo, nation building, is a process that needs collective effort. While asserting that the sea does not reject water from streams, the regime baron argued that economic, social and cultural development of every nation is a journey that never ends.

He asserted that not even future Presidents of Cameroon, be they women or men, will address challenges facing the nation at a go. No one, he said, has nay magic wand to fix everything within seconds.

Biya as Head of State, Fame Ndongo wrote, cannot do everything alone.  He shared the view that the President is working with people across different aspects of national life. 

Among such collaborators, he noted that there could be some “black sheep”, but maintained that even in the face of defiance, the Head of  State has established institutions through which such persons are held accountable.

‘Biya’s tribe is Cameroon’

Responding to the worries of the anti-Biya letter who indexed the Head of State for failing to develop his Region of origin, Fame Ndongo shared a different opinion. He maintained that by virtue of him being Head of State, Biya’s tribe is Cameroon.

As Head of State, the CPDM Communication Secretary said Biya is working with every Cameroonian for the good of the citizenry without discrimination. 

He reminded those who wrote the letter that before Biya’s coming to power, women and youth were completely absent from certain responsibilities of the State. He averred that today things have changed.

‘Biya’s achievement ecosystem’ 

In the submission of Fame Ndongo, Biya has an enlarged ecosystem of achievements which no one can deny. He mentioned the creation of schools nationwide, 11 State universities, private tarring of roads, institutions among them those which touch on fighting corruption.

He added that in politics, economics, infrastructure, telecommunications, sanitation and all areas of national life, Biya has scored high.

But what happened?

On June 18, eight elite of South Region, issued a release, damning Biya’s leadership and insisting that he has nothing to show for in his South Region of origin. 

The authors of the piece were; Prof Jean Calvin Aba’a Oyono, Dr Appolinaire Legrand Oko, Marcel Ebene, Emmanuel Foumane, Paul Freddy Oyono, Narcisse Evina Ongotto, Jerome Christelle Mendomo and Willy Mengue.

They had among other things claimed citizens of the South Region have been living under a dictatorship yet being misrepresented as feeding fat from the regime simply because one of them is Head of State. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3482 of Monday June 23, 2025