Happy birthday Mr President!.

But in Cameroon, that of his peer, President Paul Biya, which is on February 13, is feasted publicly mainly by members of his ruling party while he himself has traditionally celebrated with intimate family members in private.

This year's celebration highlighted members of his inner circle gathered to show their support. Pictures widely shared on social media showed the President surrounded by children and relatives in an atmosphere described as convivial and warm.

Within his ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, CPDM party, last Friday's birthday was celebrated, according to the party's Communications Service, with the intention to publicly pay tribute to the Unity Palace tenant.

It was by the party's planning to present the celebrant as a major figure in Cameroon, highlighting "his experience and influence beyond national borders".

The party linked the President's age, 93, to a symbolic number, seeing it as a sign of completion and balance. The remarks illustrate the legitimising rhetoric employed by some regime supporters during the President's personal events.

But beneath the lavish and cozy warmth in the close circuit was a different narrative at the national level and even worldwide.

At 93, the birthday serves as a chilling symbol for Cameroon as he has ruled for over 43 years in his eighth term at an era where a third term is considered in democratic parlance as a "democratic coup d'etat". 

Behind the trappings of power, the reality is far darker in a country mired in infrastructure crisis as roads are crumbling and filth stinking to high heaven in cities, surprisingly even the nation’s capital, Yaounde.

Power outages punctuate daily life; drinking water remains a luxury in many Regions and the health delivery system is not affordable, and not even efficient. That is why top government officials often get evacuated abroad even when they catch a simple cold.

The realities on the ground are not new, but they crystallise the chronic inability of a regime to transform the resources of a country, rich in oil, gold, timber etc into tangible development for its population.

Articulate commentator, Paul Moutila, notes that under the Biya regime, "the crumbling infrastructure is merely the visible face of failing governance".

The evidence speaks out loudly: Cameroon regularly appears in international rankings highlighting corruption, budgetary opacity, debt stress alerts and the mismanagement of public funds, resulting in a suffocating public debt that mortgages the future of generations to come.

Insecurity is another burden of Biya's rule as separatists conflict in Anglophone Regions has reportedly claimed over 7,000 lives since 2016.

In the Far North, Boko Haram continues to sow terror with kidnappings, population displacements, and increasing militarisation paint an alarming picture.

As Moutilia points out in a research report, "This persistent instability erodes the confidence of foreign investors and paralyses entire sectors of the economy. Young Cameroonian graduates, without prospects, are choosing exile en masse".

Behind the macroeconomic bleak picture, Paul Biya embodies a generation of African leaders who have sat tight or have become "Royal Presidents" as some cynics call them.

Born in 1933, he belongs to the analogue generation struggling with age to cope with the aspirations of the android era. Yet, in October 2025, he got another seven-year mandate that will end when he will be some 100 years old, raising questions of capability.

Issa Tchiroma, his former Minister of Communication and Government Spokesman, who understands the regime to his fingertips, is on record as saying age makes it difficult for President to govern, so he rules by proxy.

Bâtonnier Akere Muna, anti-corruption legal guru of international repute, concorded and went to the Constitutional Council, praying the judges to declare him unfit to govern on grounds of age.

Prof Olivier Bile, President of the political party, Les Libérateurs, also seized the Constitutional Council to declare Biya incapable to govern. They all had no proof to back their claims.

Medical research indicates that the office of Heads of State "demand high-level decision-making, cognitive flexibility, and the ability to process complex information under stress". 

The medical experts focus on "biological age, how well the body functions, rather than just the number 90. A 90-year-old who exercises, remains socially engaged, and has no cognitive impairment may be more capable than a younger, frail individual". 

In some countries like the United States, medical reports are required to contest run for Presidency, to prove the capability of leaders who, at 70, are considered too old to govern, but in Cameroon, it is not.

Therefore, the questions swirling about President Biya's incapability to govern at 93 in a country fraught with security, infrastructural and youth unemployment time bomb remain his responsibility to provide an answer based on the realities on the ground which even provide answers to the questions. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3705 of Monday February 16, 2026