2025 presidentials: Implications of Tchiroma's resignation!.

They chose dignity, resistance, and freedom. Not because they were many or powerful, but because injustice had become unbearable to them. They had neither tribe nor religion as their banner. They had only the nation, as faith and as a guiding star. What united them was an ideal greater than themselves: the nation. And this nation, they placed it above all else. 

Their suffering, their denial of rights, they could no longer bear them. And our homage today can only be sincere if we follow their example; by rejecting discourses of hatred, communitarianism, identity crisis, and tribalism. These poisonous ideologies, which we have sometimes normalised, are now threatening to destroy the national pact. Today, the situation of our people is serious. Our people are at their limit. They are suffocating. They are suffering. They are waiting. They are hoping. And if we want to honour the sacrifice of the founding fathers, then it is our turn to rise above personal interests, to show transcendence, to unite our strengths. 

The threat is clear: a dismantled regime dragging the nation into a collapse that is both foreseeable and unacceptable”. 

The quote is an abstract from the letter of Issa Tchiroma Bakary, the former Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, and President of the FSNC, political party in alliance with the ruling CPDM, for nearly two decades, to Cameroonians. 

Coming some four months to the presidential election, Tchiroma who as Minister of Communication and Government Spokesman, who defended the regime to the extreme, added in his letter that the “time for deception is over”.

That deceit, which he disseminated in the CPDM government, tallies with the popular maxim that "you can't fool all the people all the time".

It is time for reckoning and the "chicken are coming home to roost". 

Tchiroma has returned to his Garoua base, promising to challenge the ruling party's candidate at the October presidential election. 

But there are dire implications for him, the CPDM and the political configuration ahead of the elections.

For him, it would be a pipe dream to think running alone he can make any impact, especially after confessing that a system he served for so long thrived on "deception".

The real impact and consequence of his departure, which some have termed as an "earth quark," is on the CPDM government whose inequities, he is exposing and chastising the regime for "causing the sufferings" of the electorate and being an "enemy" to citizens. 

Whether the resignation is influenced by sour grapes, personal aggrandisement or the reading of the writing for change on the wall, it has inflicted collateral damage on the regime on the eve of a crucial presidential poll. 

Torun Dewan and Keith Dowding, in their book titled: "The Corrective Effect of Ministerial Resignations on Government Popularity", which is  based on empirical research, write that: "Ministerial resignations can have significant effects on a government, potentially impacting its stability, policy direction, and public perception. Resignations can trigger a reshuffle, leading to changes in departmental responsibilities and potentially affecting the government's ability to deliver on its promises. The reasons for resignation, whether due to personal responsibility, policy disagreements, or political pressure, can also influence the public's view of the government's competence and integrity".

The scenario is visible in the country, with lack of efficient infrastructure, social amenities and youth unemployment, which Tchiroma so graphically pointed out even before throwing in the towel. 

His resignation adds to the yawning vacancies the passage of the Secretary of State in charge of Epidemics and Pandemics in the Ministry of Public Health, Sultan Alim Hayatou; the Minister Delegate in charge of Cooperation with the Islamic World at the Ministry of External Relations, Adoum Gargoum; the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Clementine Ananga Messina; and the Minister of Mines, Industry and Technological Development, Gabriel Dodo Ndoke. 

The vacancies remain yawning at a time a major cabinet reshuffle had been expected, especially as the government has been ridden with a litany of scandals.

It has been the tradition for President Biya to reshuffle his cabinet after every election, but since the 2018 presidential polls and later senatorial elections, speculations about a new government have been rife.

Following the COVID-gate, in which some 15 members of government were grilled by the investigators of the Special Criminal Court, and some found to have sold gifts to government at inflated prices, questionable contracts awarded and medication ordered in India rebranded as made in Cameroon in order to rip off, civil society watchdogs had expected those suspected of implication in the scandals would be replaced to face the sword of justice.

There were also allegations of dubious deals during the construction of infrastructure for the AFCON tournament that smeared the government and needed a cleanup. 

A series of deaths and Tchiroma's resignation has reduced the number of government ministers by at least five.

There has been no replacement in a team which is not even known to be at peak performance. 

Will Tchiroma's exit not force the regime to fill the vacancies, even if for campaign purposes?

If the positions are not filled, will it not imply that their functions were irrelevant? If there was no need for the positions they held, why were they appointed in the first place?

It has been said time without numbers that the CPDM government is too bloated to be effective. The Biya regime has also been criticised as being laden with inertia and lack of collaboration among some members.

But as long as the portfolios remain and the vacancies not replaced, it gives the impression of a government short of vision.

In politics like in management, every post has a job description. To continue to operate a government with five shouting vacancies, leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth, especially when there is escalating unemployment and some divisions grumbling aloud that they are not represented in government.

There is no question that government reshuffle has been overdue, especially as the performance has not been impressive. 

Tchioma's departure, followed by a scathing condemnation of the regime he knows so well and defended the "deception" for years, should compel the regime to pick up the broken pieces with a reshuffle that will clean the mess.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3486 of Friday June 27, 2025