Biya’s “brief” visit abroad enters 50th day!.

The Minister of Communication and Government’s Spokesperson, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, later issued another statement, specifying that Biya is in Switzerland.

The detail was in a June 21 statement, replying to a claim by Paris-based Pan-African magazine, Jeune Afrique, a day earlier, that the President was sick and had been admitted in a clinic in the European nation.

In addition to giving the exact country where the President is, Sadi dismissed the report, insisting that while abroad, Biya continues to guide daily operations within the country. 

Yet, 50 days since the President left the country, anxiety has continued to spread, with some persons even stretching arguments to the borders of Biya’s long absence, saying it doesn't augur well for the country. 

Fifty days out of the country is yet again a new record for Biya, 93, who has been ruling Cameroon since November 6, 1982. 

Comrades of the President’s Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM party, have in the face of concerns by some persons, reiterated that the Head of State remains in charge of the country, despite being abroad.

Why long stay possibly concerning Biya’s long stays abroad have always been the subject of public debates. But this year, the context and expectations of citizens have made the debate heightened. 

The President’s absence from the country in the last 50 days has become topical, especially for those who have been looking forward to major changes since he was re-elected on October 12, 2025, for another seven-year mandate.

While addressing the nation on December 31, 2025, the President reiterated his wish to live up to his campaign promises and those he made on November 6, 2026, while being sworn in. 

Biya again came back to promise sweeping changes on the eve of the Youth Day on January 10, 2026. The public waited anxiously, including the promise of a new government and sweeping changes at the helm of public establishments. 

Unlike previous decades, the promises these years were with a firm tone of not just soonest but deliberately giving women and youth their place.

The wait has heightened, yet nothing is happening. Biya has gone mute, leaving the public expecting. 

It is 50 days today since Biya left the country, and several conjectures are jostling for acceptance of what is really happening within the public space

New record stay abroad 

As at yesterday, Biya’s stay out of the country matched that of 2024. Then, he left the country for Beijing, China, to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

The Summit then was from the September 4 to 6, 2024. Biya had returned to the country on October, 21, 2024. Then, he spent all together 49 days abroad. 

With today making 50 days since June 7, 2026, Biya is now on a new long stay in his 43 years and still counting leadership.

Decreeing in Yaounde from Geneva!

One of the contractions of the last 50 days is that of the Head of State signing decrees supposedly in Yaounde, whereas Minister Sadi long said he is in Switzerland working. 

All of such decrees have always indicated Yaounde as the place of signing.

This is the case with Decree No. 2026/228 of 25 June 2025, promoting active officers of the defence and security forces.

Decree No. 2026/229 of June 25, 2026, promoted certain officers to rank of Sub-Lieutenant. It was also stamped and signed "done in Yaounde," whereas Biya is still out of the country. 

The same holds for Decree No. 2026/258 of July 22, 2026, authorising the Minister of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT, to sign a deal with the International Development Association, IDA, worth 21.6 billion FCFA for the Adaptive Safety Nets and Economic Inclusion Project.

On the same July 22, Biya signed a decree authorising MINEPAT boss to seal another deal with the Deutsche Bank of Spain for the completion of phase I of the Yaounde Municipal Lake Tourism and Economic Development Project. The amount authorised is 3.560 billion FCFA.

Two other decrees stamped and signed “Done in Yaounde,” were also read on State radio, on July 22, 2026. It saw the appointment of Abdoulaye Bakari and Guy Emmanuel Sabikanda as members of the Board of Directors of the National Hydrocarbons Corporation, SNH.

Vice President dilemma 

Paul Biya, the political Maradona of the last decades, must be in the know of one of the most unusual happenstances of his absence. It is the surfacing of a fake decree appointing a Vice President of the Republic.

The incident had transpired on June 12, 2026, a few days after Biya left the country. 

A man, identified as Sitchom Johnn, was arrested for storming the Cameroon Radio Television, CRTV, with the fake document.

Since then, the suspect is said to have been under investigation. 

The amendment of the Constitution in April this year, reintroducing the post of Vice President, is among the several things Biya was long expected to act upon.

Yet, the wait continues to be long, with many of the President’s political creatures pictured to be eying such an elevation as a visa to succeeding him at the helm of State.

Towards another triumphant return?

The drama of 2024 about the President’s long absence even included rumours of death. 

Yet, his supporters came out strong to indicate that the President was fine. 

It then became a situation of those who stood in the gap, assuring citizens that there was no reason to worry and those who threw every such justification to the wind.

Yet, Biya and wife returned to the country on October 21, 2024, to a rapturous reception. Thousands of his supporters then lined the Presidential wing of the Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport and the axis leading to the Unity Palace to welcome the Head of state and wife home.

Analysts are already almost certain in their calculations that in the next couple of days, the CPDM apparatus in Yaounde will mobilise party supporters to welcome the President home in a hilarious fashion reminiscence of what happened in 2004.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3860 of Monday July 27, 2026