Monthly Archives: August 2025

11, August 2025

Archbishop Kleda issues critique of the Biya regime ahead of elections ⁰

As Cameroon heads to a presidential election in October, Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala has sharply criticized President Paul Biya’s government, painting a dark picture of a country so rich in natural resources, but whos resources are so badly managed.

In a 16-page Pastoral Letter released August 8, the leading Catholic noted that “our society is shaken by multiple ills that afflict all social strata.”

“The unease that is currently eating away at our country and causing widespread discontent among citizens in this pre-election period stems from anti-evangelical acts that have been instituted in the management of our country,” the archbishop said, and proceeded to list the anti-evangelical acts: “Poor governance and corruption, distorted democracy, widespread poverty and unemployment, illegal immigration, the dilapidated road network, difficult access to water and electricity, the murky management of oil, injustices in mining, and the Anglophone and security crises in the Far North.”

He said such evils pervert relations between citizens and rulers, leading to abuse of power and injustice.

“However, at present and at all times, our country thirsts for social justice, which is expressed through respect for human rights and the development of everything that allows it to flourish and fulfill its vocation,” Kleda said.

He denounced the “atrocious suffering that particularly affects the poorest and weakest, held hostage by the chains of corruption and injustice,” explaining that the country’s vast natural resources are being plundered to fund the opulent lifestyle of members of the government, while the vast majority of citizens are starving.

He said this has created a socially unadjusted economy in which the rich grow richer as the poor grow poorer, noting that it has been caused by “the refusal to promote integral human development that benefits everyone.”

For him, the challenge facing Cameroon’s leaders lies in “respecting and implementing the concept of the common good.”

He blasted those in government for failing to make Cameroonians their priority, saying that “the focus is on the individual, the group, the clan, the ethnic group, the lobby.”

This state of affairs sacrifices the majority of the population, pushing them toward impoverishment and misery that is destroying Cameroon and jeopardizing “the future of millions of people, especially young people.”

A corrupt democracy

The Douala archbishop also took a swipe at the country’s democratic experiment, saying that it has failed to respect the cannons of working democracies: Tolerance, dialogue, transparency, justice and truth. Instead, Cameroon’s democracy is “tainted by institutional violence, intimidation, and a lack of transparency, truth, and justice.”

For him, a democracy where “political actors are despised, brutalized, and imprisoned is doomed to fail.”

He criticized Cameroon’s political actors for failing to engage in meaningful which prevent “the consolidation of peaceful coexistence.”

Brain drain

The prelate expressed anger that the failure to offer young people hope for a better country is forcing thousands of young people to leave the country, sometimes at the risk of losing their lives, in search of “greener pasture” abroad where they feel sure to get decent jobs, and better living and educational conditions.

“This brain drain is emptying our country of intelligent, skilled young people, scientists, engineers, and health professionals, to the benefit of countries offering better living and working conditions,” Kleda said.

The archbishop also spoke about the opaque management of resources, noting that it is paradoxical that Cameroon that is so blessed with hydraulic potential still has problems of access to drinking water and electricity. He said the “numerous energy development projects, such as hydroelectric dams,” were designed “to enrich corrupt officials through kickbacks.”

He noted further that the management of Cameroon’s oil revenue remains “a complete mystery, because the hydrocarbon sector is controlled by a group of individuals who award themselves exploration and drilling contracts, oil contracts, and marketing rights.”

Kleda finds it unacceptable that hydrocarbons are “not serving the national economy, but are the preserve of a small circle of political power that awards itself contracts and positions and arrogates all rights and privileges to itself, while the majority languishes in poverty.” The same is true of the mining sector.

The Douala archbishop equally addressed the security problems plaguing the Central African nation, decrying the incapacity of the government to find solutions to the crisis rocking Cameroon’s English-speaking regions. The conflict that started in 2016 has so far left at least 6,500 people dead, and a further 800,000 people forced out of their homes.

He blasted separatist fighters in the two regions for killing, committing acts of assault and kidnapping people, but Kleda didn’t have kind words for the military either, explaining that there is “the brutality of the army, which razes entire villages on the mere suspicion of support (for the enemy).”

In the far north of Cameroon, the terrorist group Boko Haram is spreading terror and desolation. Faced with these extremely painful and worrying situations, Kleda is asking the government to spare no effort to “restore peace in all crisis-hit regions.”

With a presidential election scheduled for October 12, the archbishop seems to suggest that it was time Cameroonians vote Biya out of office.

“On the eve of the presidential election in October 2025 in our country, I invite you all to join me, your brother, so that together we may raise our voices to Almighty God to implore peace for our country, a spirit of love and service in families, and for each one of us,” the archbishop said.

“Choosing a president of the Republic is a civic duty that falls to each and every one of us, and which will shape the future of our country. That is why our civic action must lay the foundations for a new and prosperous society, based on peace and justice, and focused on the well-being of us all,” he said.

“I invite all people of good will to change their mindset and attitude, to undergo a profound inner transformation, to embark on a new path and to renew their lives in order to become ‘peacemakers’ (Mt 5:9), according to the will of our Lord,” he added.

Biya will face eleven other candidates at the poll as he seeks an eighth consecutive term of office. The 92-year-old leader has been in power since November 1982.

Kleda’s outing has sparked bitter reactions among the president’s henchmen. Professor Owona Nguini, a political scientist and close ally of the president accused Kleda of using the pulpit for partisan politics.

“The Pastoral letter is clearly partisan in nature. The bishop in my opinion stepped away from his priestly mission to engage in partisan politics,” he said.

Source: Crux

11, August 2025

Nyene Mawn: Key takeaways and talking points from Paris 2025 ⁰

The Manyu Women’s International Organisation (Nyene Mawn) members gathered in Paris over the weekend for the association’s second annual residential convention. Chi Prudence and Soter Agbaw-Ebai report

The sun in Paris was shining, the good weather added to a sense of optimism for a Manyu women’s group that was clearly on the brink of collapse.

Despite social media negativity orchestrated by some rogue elements against Nyene Mawn, the mood in the French capital was du jamais vu indicating that Nyene Mawn queens had move away from the nasty past and the embarrassing so-called conference of presidents’ scandal which had attempted to destroy the Nyene Mawn brand.

Here are the key talking points from the Nyene Mawn Residential Convention

The President-General Dr Mrs Patience Abangma promised the Nyene Mawn queens that she was going to step down and usher in the new generation. This is after she repaired the financial damage caused by the disgraced suspended seven.

Dr Patience Abangma did not need to put a positive spin on her speech to get the Nyene Mawn queens smiling and sharing tears of joy as much as she was.

Delegates from all over the world were in great spirit at the respective meetings that started on Friday and ended Sunday evening.

Nyene Mawn is riding high with their favourite slogan: Nyene Mawn leads, others follow.

This time last year, Nyene Mawn queens crammed into a dour, stuffy hall in the middle of the afternoon in Brussels to discuss their progress and their plans for the future. The atmosphere among Nyene Mawn queens in Brussels that day might be described as quietly confident. If the sense that day was of a Manyu women association on the rise, then Paris 2025, in its glitzier environs, was that of a Nyene Mawn whose time had come.

When the convention started in Paris Noisy Le Sec, Nyene Mawn announced a new interim body headed by Queen Maureen Tabe as President-General, which aims to speed up development deep within the association while Dr Patience Abangma used her speech to promise the women of her complete and total support for the new governing body.

Nyene Mawn queens thanked their out gone President-General Dr Patience Abangma for sustaining the Nyene Mawn cause, the association, the argument against a vicious campaign of blackmail. “Mami Abangma didn’t just win for herself, she won for all the Nyene Mawn queens”, Chief Stella Ntui Arhewoh from the Federal Republic of Nigeria who also moonlights as Second Vice President said, describing how Dr Patience Abangma had challenged attempts aimed at destroying the image of the Manyu Women’s International Association.

Speaking exclusively to Cameroon Concord News, Nyene Mawn’s new strong woman Lady Maureen Tabe said “We’re not going to screw Mami Abangma’s legacy up; we’re going to make sure that we use her leadership style and use our majority following to transform Nyene Mawn and attract quality membership not quantity.”

Whether Nyene Mawn achieves its goals for the female child in Manyu Division in Cameroon remains to be seen. But what’s clear from Paris 2025 is that Nyene Mawn queens are now strong and growing in confidence.

At the gala night on Saturday evening animated by renowned Manyu artist Etando Moh Manyu, Soter Agbaw-Ebai caught up with the President General Maureen Tabe and pressed the new leader on a range of Nyene Mawn matters, including plans to recover the embezzled funds, the indefinite suspension of the dodgy seven and also the key issue of developmental projects back home.

According to Soter Agbaw-Ebai, Nyene Mawn’s new leader was able to provide strong assurance on the issues, and a discussion with our editor showed that Nyene Mawn finally emerged stronger and united than expected.

“I’ll put my hands up any day, any time and say I was one of the Nyene Mawn queens who fought tooth and nail to preserve the image of the Manyu Women’s International Association,” Queen Regina AyukEtah, First Vice President from the Kingdom of Belgium said, explaining that Paris 2025 has given birth to a new spirit in Nyene Mawn.

Inside business day at the Nyene Mawn Residential Convention

Lady Collect Tambeagbor, Nyene Mawn’s Communication Secretary predictably, spoke about getting Nyene Mawn building bridges with other Manyu women groups both at home and abroad.

Another issue that did not receive a clear answer from delegates was why Nyene Mawn decided to suspend the seven members indefinitely instead of the agreed dismissal as recommended by the general assembly.

Lady Priscillia Morand, the new Secretary General of Nyene Mawn spoke in strong terms about the importance of moving the association forward, explaining that Nyene Mawn should not be over reliant on its members in Europe but needed to tap into the Nyene Mawn worldwide diversity.

Support for the girl child in Manyu was also a theme in the residential convention discourse during the AGM, which saw a huge number of Nyene Mawn queens come together. Speaker after speaker gave barnstorming speeches at the AGM.

Many in Paris called for Nyene Mawn to empower its chapters in Cameroon if it wanted to fulfil its pledge to ensure growth across Manyu Division, and recognise this would not happen without transformative investment on the girl child project.

Conveniently, Nyene Mawn is currently trying to rebuild again on its image and finances.

11, August 2025

Cameroon concludes AI training for indigenous people ⁰

Cameroon on Saturday concluded a weeklong training for indigenous people in artificial intelligence (AI) as part of activities to mark the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.

Minister of Social Affairs Pauline Irene Nguene said the Central African nation is working to ensure that indigenous people benefit from the opportunities provided by the advent of AI.

“Indigenous people should not be left out in the changing world. It is their right to learn and apply AI. That is why this training contributes to the fight against social exclusion,” Nguene said in Yaoundé, the country’s capital, while awarding certificates at the end of the training.

Efforts are underway to establish a tiered AI education system to guide indigenous people in rural areas from foundational cognitive awareness to practical technological innovation, according to Cameroonian officials.

The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is commemorated annually on Aug. 9, with this year’s theme being “Indigenous Peoples and AI: Defending Rights, Shaping Futures.”

By Miriam Metchane Ewang

11, August 2025

Running for President to be appointed minister: why a coalition is difficult ⁰

Ahead of the 2004 presidential election, SDF’s Hon. Joseph Mbah Ndam (RIP) told me, boastfully and happily, that the SDF candidate Ni John Fru Ndi, would come second ahead of opposition coalition candidate Adamou Ndam Njoya. That implied Mbah Ndam knew and was comfortable that incumbent president Paul Biya would win. That was my first direct experience with political half-aim.

I was a young political reporter and editor at The Herald newspaper then. Fru Ndi had walked out of an opposition coalition effort because Ndam Njoya had been chosen as the “consensual candidate”. Though the political and civil society leaders involved concluded that Ndam Njoya was the man with the profile for the job at the time, Fru Ndi’s entourage said it was inconceivable for Ndam Njoya, leader of a “small party” to clinch the coalition ticket over Fru Ndi, leader of the biggest opposition party at the time.

Not everyone running for President really means to be President. Or rather, many run for President to “win” as little as nowhere near elective office even at the lowest level. By the way, only one out of the lot makes it at any election. For many, it is beyond being able to win. They know they really cannot win. Ostensibly, the most selfless of them run to set an agenda by floating their ideas for more serious candidates to adopt them for the wellbeing of citizens. Matter of fact, many only step into the fray to seek for notice. They engage the race for other purposes.

Take the trouble to count presidential aspirants around the world across human history and possibly less than one percent of names on ballots have ever won anything, not even significant votes. The man called Apostle Ambe Valentine Ngwa might just have avoided that, but for his troubles with an early declaration, and smart calculations, he might have secured a political future.

Dr Nick Ngwanyam, a current affairs commentator, might have captured – with apparent marksman precision – what could have been the calculations of this eloquent TV personality who is also a Pentecostal preacher. Ambe declared to run early but, falling short of fulfilling the conditions to appear on the ballot, he announced he was withdrawing from the race to throw his weight behind SDF’s presidential candidate, Joshua Osih, whom he says embodies the vision he has for Cameroon.

Ambe said his bid for the presidency has been frustrated by the impossibility of obtaining the signatures of personalities (senators, first-class traditional rulers, etc) across the ten regions to make up the required 300 to be eligible as an independent candidate.

Who is surprised? Who, except no one, not even Ambe himself really thought he would be an eligible candidate without a political party nomination? He clearly knew he would not be on the ballot. He obviously declared to run for other purposes than to actually run for president. Ambe says he made phone calls to personalities across the regions of the country to obtain their signatures. Just phone calls! Not as much as field tours to meet – not just call – personalities around the country!

Nevertheless, Nick Ngwanyam says, with that act of endorsing Osih, Ambe might have secured a political future, and thus gets elevated to the high stage to travel, eat, lodge, speak and commune at the same level on the campaign trail as Osih, a non-negligible presidential candidate.

And, Ngwanyam adds, after the election, should Osih win, Ambe may stand a chance to become minister or should Osih fall short, Ambe might hope to be propelled to a high-profile political career from the top in the SDF and may eventually run for mayor of Bonaberi in Douala where he lives. Hence, he might have declared to run for president to end up as mayor.

I recall how humorist, Koukam Narcisse used Ni John Fru Ndi’s traditional appellation “Ni” to mock him. (The word “Ni”, used to refer respectfully to an uncle or any senior in the Ngemba languages spoken in several villages in Bamenda and its environs, means “neither/nor” in French.)

Koukam mocked Fru Ndi for all his political bravado and achievements with a massive political party SDF, as being “Ni John, Ni Fru, Ni Ndi, Ni Maire, Ni Député, Ni Président.” (Neither Mayor, nor MP, nor President.) At least, by Nick Ngwanyam’s projection, Apostle Ambe could reap the benefits of his early announcement of a run for the Presidency by grabbing a mayoral seat. Ambe won’t be the first.

In 1997, UPC’s Henri Hogbe Nlend and NUDP’s Bello Bouba Maigari secured ministerial positions under Biya; the one by running for president perhaps to lose, the other by not running to inconvenience Biya and be rewarded. In that election boycotted by the three most vibrant opposition candidates at the time (Fru Ndi, Bello Bouba Maigari and Adamu Ndam Njoya), one of them, Bello, tiptoed backwards and worked his way into the Government as Minister of State. Fifteen years earlier, he had been made prime minister in the first government after Biya became president in November 1982.

Across decades of Cameroon’s political history, politicians and civil society actors have reaped political benefits by their posturing either by running or not running, either by endorsing candidates or offering to be counter-forces or nuisances to potential winners to the benefit of the incumbent.

Such was the case of certain early UPC militants in the 1970s who were lured into the government by pioneer President Ahmadou Ahidjo after the revolutionary party had been subdued with the execution of its last leader, Ernest Ouandie, in 1971. (Um Nyobe and Felix Moumie had been eliminated earlier.)

As a result, Augustin Frederick Kodock was appointed to several positions including Director General of Cameroon Airlines and at the African Development Bank, sponsored by the Ahidjo government. Mayi Matip was elevated to Senior Vice Speaker of the National Assembly under long-serving House Speaker, Solomon Tandeng Muna.

After the 2018 presidential election when MRC’s Maurice Kamto gave President Biya a real run for his money and even claimed stolen victory, Barrister Jean de Dieu Momo was appointed into the government as reward for his spoiler job alongside the G-20. Momo, a Bamileke like Kamto and himself a presidential candidate in 2011, did not run in 2018. He was rather among 20 or so spoiler political and civil society actors who declared they were supporting Biya. Of them all, Momo got appointed into the government thereafter.

In 2022, Nkongho Felix Agbor “Balla” turned down his announced co-opting into the SDF Shadow Cabinet by then leader, Ni John Fru Ndi, with the obvious backing of then Vice Chairman, Osih. Now, with Balla’s endorsement of Osih for president earlier this year, the SDF presidential candidate said upfront that Balla would be his Minister of Justice should he win the Presidency.

Several other candidates in this 2025 presidential race are obviously not running to win but to position themselves for eventualities. They thus use the election as a positioning test, whereby candidates size their bite by their percentage score which is the equivalent of territory captured by armed groups in an armed struggle to weigh their negotiating position during eventual talks.

With 83 individuals submitting files this year to the elections management body, ELECAM, Cameroonians had before them individuals with different motives from doing a dress rehearsal to testing their potentials for future elections by demonstrating their political weight to secure a place on the negotiating table in case political deadlock necessitates a consensus government or a “government of national unity”. Or even just to get their public service debts paid like Leopard Bessiping.

Some presidential aspirants are under pressure from party militants to berth ministerial portfolios for them to have their own “chop farm” like UPC Kodock loyalists or like Charly Gabriel Mbock under Hodge Nlend or like the entourage of Bello Bouba and Issa Tchiroma enjoying privileges at their ministries. Such is the mindset when chances of regime change appear bleak to supporters and they resort to “wetin man go do” (or a sense of resignation), settling for less than the presidency.

By Franklin Sone Bayen

9, August 2025

Biya regime seeks extradition of protesters after embassy demonstrations ⁰

Several people were arrested during protests outside Cameroonian embassies in Belgium and France. The demonstrations were a response to the Constitutional Council’s rejection of Maurice Kamto’s appeal.

In an August 5 statement, Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji said that “in accordance with current judicial cooperation agreements, these individuals will be brought before local courts or extradited to face justice in Cameroon with the full force of the law.”

In Belgium, police intervened to disperse protesters who tried to enter the Cameroonian embassy. They arrested several people suspected of belonging to the Anti-Sardinards Brigade.

On July 31, Minister of External Relations Lejeune Mbella Mbella had already reminded ambassadors in Yaoundé of the international obligation to protect diplomatic missions before the presidential election. He stressed “the strict enforcement of protection measures for personnel and diplomatic and consular buildings.”

This initiative aimed to prevent a repeat of the violence that occurred after the 2018 presidential election. At that time, members of the Cameroonian diaspora attacked several embassies, including the one in Paris, and assaulted the Cameroonian ambassador in Belgium.

In his statement, the minister of territorial administration reaffirmed “the unwavering commitment of public authorities to uphold the laws of the Republic in all places and under all circumstances.”

Source: Sbbc

9, August 2025

Hearing in Alice Nkom’s case postponed again ⁰

The Douala-Bonanjo Court of First Instance firmly adjourned the case against attorney Alice Nkom, Maximilienne Ngo Mbe, and the Central Africa Human Rights Defenders Network (Redhac) on August 5, 2025. This was the third hearing in a sensitive case being closely followed by human rights advocates.

The latest postponement was due to the absence of the Wouri senior divisional officer, Sylyac Marie Mvogo, whose presence is considered essential for the proceedings to begin. According to defense lawyer Charlotte Tchakounté, a firm adjournment means no further postponements will be granted at the next hearing, which is scheduled for October 6, 2025. “The senior divisional officer will have to appear, as he is the only one who can justify the charges brought against the two defendants,” she said.

Alice Nkom, who is the chair of Redhac’s board of directors, welcomed the decision. She believes her legal team’s arguments exposed inconsistencies in the public prosecutor’s case.

Redhac was suspended in December 2024 by Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji, who cited “illicit financing” and other unspecified allegations. The organization’s offices were sealed for three months, a move Nkom called “arbitrary.” In response, the human rights lawyer broke the seals, which led to a series of administrative and judicial summonses against her.

Source: Sbbc

8, August 2025

Yaoundé: Is the world’s oldest leader set for an eighth term? ⁰

Cameroon’s constitutional council has upheld the decision by the country’s electoral body to exclude opposition leader Maurice Kamto from the 12 October presidential election.

While the firebrand political figure was sidelined, 92-year-old President Paul Biya whose candidacy also faced opposition, was cleared to run for what would be his eighth term in the oil-rich Central African nation.

If he were elected for another seven-year term, he could remain in power until he was almost 100.

Kamto was ruled out because a rival faction of the Manidem party which endorsed him presented another individual as a candidate, highlighting an internal squabble.

His exclusion sparked outrage, with his lawyers describing the rejection of his petition as more of a political than a legal move.

Who are the main candidates?

Of the 83 candidates who submitted their applications to the electoral body, only 12 have been approved.

The reasons given by Elections Cameroon (Elecam) for the disqualification of the 71 range from incomplete files, non-payment of the required deposit, to multiple candidacies from the same party.

Of all the contestants, six are seen as the main contenders:

1. Paul Biya

At 92, Paul Biya is the world’s oldest serving head of state. He has been in power for nearly 43 years since 1982. Biya leads the ruling CPDM party which dominates the political scene. He is widely considered the favourite, now that his main rival, Kamto, is out of the way.

The veteran politician has never lost an election since the return of multi-party politics in 1990. However, his victories have been marred by allegations of vote rigging – claims which his party and the government have continuously denied.

Announcing his intention to run, Biya said his eighth mandate would focus on the wellbeing of women and young people.

2. Bello Bouba Maigari

Bello Bouba Maigari, 78, is an experienced politician who hails from Cameroon’s vote-rich northern region.

He is the president of the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) party founded in 1990. He served in the governments of both of Cameroon’s presidents -Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya.

In fact, he was Biya’s first prime minister between 1982 and 1983. Since 1997, Maigari has forged an alliance with Biya’s CPDM party that helped the latter clinch significant votes from the north.

However, this political marriage ended in June following pressure from within his party to run independently.

While serving as Minister of State for Tourism and Leisure, Maigari announced his resignation and declared himself a candidate against Biya, who he also faced in the 1992 presidential election.

3. Issa Tchiroma Bakary

Another former Biya ally whose candidacy came as a surprise is 75-year-old Issa Tchiroma Bakary. Like Maigari, he is from the country’s north and has been influential in helping Biya secure the region’s votes.

After a 20-year stint in different government roles, Tchiroma finally pulled the plug on his time with the 92-year-old leader, resigning from his role as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training to announce his candidacy.

Tchiroma, who heads the Cameroon National Salvation Front (CNSF) party, criticised Biya’s governance style and hinged his presidential bid on a promise to overhaul the system, which he described as “suffocating”.

AFP via Getty Images A man painted in green and white colours — Supporters of Joshua Osih came out in donned in party colours when he campaigned in the 2018 election, but he came fourth

4. Cabral Libii

Cabral Libii, president of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), is a vibrant member of parliament who is making his second attempt at getting the country’s top job.

In 2018, he was the youngest of the nine presidential candidates, aged just 38, coming third with 6% of the vote.

Libii’s candidature in this year’s election was challenged by PCRN founder Robert Kona, who disputed the lawmaker’s legitimacy to lead the party.

However, the Constitutional Council rejected Kona’s petition and upheld the electoral body’s decision to allow Libii to stand.

5. Akere Muna

Akere Muna was a candidate in the 2018 presidential election but pulled out at the last minute and threw his weight behind Kamto. This time around, Muna, a staunch international anti-corruption lawyer, says he wants to challenge Biya himself.

The 72-year-old is from a family of politicians – his late father Solomon Tandeng Muna served as Prime Minister of West Cameroon after independence, Vice-President of the then Federal Republic of Cameroon and Speaker of the National Assembly.

As Speaker, Solomon Muna swore in Biya when he took over as president after Ahmadou Ahidjo resigned.

Muna is promising to rid the bilingual country of the corruption and bad governance that he says have soiled its image at the international scene.

6. Joshua Osih

JoshuaOsih is jumping into the presidential race for the second time after his first attempt in 2018 proved futile.

He heads the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, succeeding the iconic late opposition leader John Fru Ndi. The SDF used to be the country’s main opposition outfit, but its influence later dwindled, exacerbated by infighting and the expulsion of several party members in 2023.

Osih, 56, came fourth in the 2018 polls with 3%, but is hoping to defeat Biya through a promise of social and institutional reforms.

AFP via Getty Images A close-up shot of Maurice Kamto. He has short hair and glasses and is wearing a blue jacket. — Maurice Kamto was President Paul Biya’s main challenger in the previous election

Who poses the strongest challenge to Biya?

For many decades, President Biya has succeeded in maintaining a firm grip on power, making it difficult for him to lose elections.

The decision of political heavyweights Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary to challenge him appeared to make life more difficult, but some analysts believe they do not pose a significant threat to Biya.

Dr Pippie Hugues, a policy analyst with Cameroonian think-tank Nkafu Policy Institute, argues that their alliance with the current regime lessens their credibility with opposition voters.

“Cameroonians need more than just a resignation to trust them,” he told the BBC. “Both have been with the system and watched the nation suffer.”

Dr Hugues further suggested that the two northern candidates might be part of a political plot staged by the regime.

However, ruling party officials have portrayed the rupture as genuine, acknowledging that the CPDM could struggle to obtain as many votes from the north as before.

Given Kamto’s exclusion, Biya’s strongest challenger in 2018, third-placed Libii could arguably claim to be his main threat this year.

Although he got just 6% of the vote, Libii’s political evolution since then has been praised.

He led his party to win five seats in parliament and seven local councils during the 2020 legislative and municipal elections. Since becoming a member of parliament in the process, he has challenged the government on key policy issues, promising sweeping changes if he takes over the reins of power.

However, Dr Hugues says Libii’s vision is opaque, citing Akere Muna as a more convincing candidate with a much clearer project for the nation of nearly 30 million people.

“Muna has a wealth of international experience and diplomatic character, and that is what the nation needs now,” he said, while praising the renowned lawyer’s five-year transition plan to “put the nation back on track”.

Could the opposition unite?

Historically, Cameroon’s opposition has been fragmented especially during elections, with analysts saying this has disadvantaged them.

Ahead of this year’s presidential election, there has been much talk about the need for the opposition to unite and harmonise strategies to take on Biya. But with each candidate prioritising their own interests, it remains unclear if most – let alone all – of them would work together, despite the risk this could help the president.

“It might be the end of their political careers, or their parties, if they don’t come together,” said civil society leader Felix Agbor Balla.

“Kamto and the others must look for someone in the opposition who can carry the baton – and they must put the nation first, rise above their personal ego to look for a consensual candidate that can give the CPDM a run on the 12th of October,” he told the BBC.

Anadolu via Getty Images Protesters gather at Place de la Republique in Paris on May 31, 2025, at the call of the Cameroonian diaspora. Waving flags, holding placards and banners, they expressed their opposition to President Paul Biya, — Maurice Kamato has drummed up support among Cameroonians in the diaspora, as protests in support of him have taken place in Paris, France

Dr Hugues agrees that Kamto should use his influence to drum up support for an opposition coalition since he is now out of the race.

He insists “change must not [only] come with him [Kamto], but change can come through him”.

He added that an opposition coalition is possible and made reference to a meeting attended by opposition figures on 2 August in Foumban town in the West region.

Prince Michael Ekosso, president of the United Socialist Democratic Party (USDP), who took part in the meeting, told the BBC the aim was to lay the groundwork for a “consensual candidate”.

While no specific candidate has been designated yet, the criteria for consideration were laid down.

“We want a figure who is going to be responding to the aspirations of Cameroonians, someone who is flexible to work with others, someone who is bilingual and able to mobilise other candidates and political actors,” Ekosso said.

In the 1992 presidential election, firebrand opposition leader John Fru Ndi was backed by the Union for Change, a coalition of political parties and civil society organisations.

Although he was not the only opposition candidate, analysts say the coalition helped him get 36% of the vote – just shy of Biya’s 40%.

That was the closest anyone has ever got to beating Biya. Fru Ndi even claimed victory, but the authorities rejected allegations of vote rigging and confirmed Biya as the winner.

Many believe if the opposition doesn’t band together as it did in 1992, Biya might have an easy ride to the presidency.

“He has the experience, the human resources and the system to his advantage,” says Dr Hugues.

Source: BBC

8, August 2025

Cameroon’s Constitutional Council: a government that crushes ballots will eventually meet bullets ⁰

In the long, bloodstained ledger of Africa’s democratic betrayals, few chapters are as pungently shameful, or spectacularly tragic, as the travesty recently staged by Cameroon’s Constitutional Council; a body that now stands as a consecrated altar and mausoleum of cowardice and injustice, where the will of the people is ritually sacrificed. The unconstitutional and cowardly exclusion of Maurice Kamto, the most credible opposition leader and MANIDEM’s rightful candidate for the 2025 presidential election, is not only naked provocation and an insult to voters; it is state-sponsored electoral banditry – a daylight mugging of democracy itself. Let’s be clear: this Council is not a legal institution – it is a shriveled coven of Beti tribal jingoists and partisan cronies, comprising one menopausal matriarch and a cabal of tired old men tottering between senility and servility. Lacking spine, vision, or honor, these Judas-hearted charlatans, traded principle for privilege, betraying their solemn oaths with the audacity of sycophants groveling for scraps and crumbs of power. These soulless merchants of betrayal are not judges; they are scribes of a dying regime, dressing Paul Biya’s dictatorship in the robes of law and stamping tyranny with the seal of legitimacy. Their loyalty lies not with the constitution they swore to uphold, but with the decrepit throne of an aging autocrat. Drunken on greed and self-centered pedestrianism, they bent over backwards to crawl where conviction and character demanded they stand tall. The arbitrary rejection of Kamto is shameful, pathetic, disgraceful and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. History will brand those traitors as footnotes in the annals of treason and judicial brigandage.

In rejecting Kamto’s candidacy amid the overwhelming evidence of conspiracy and fraud by ELECAM and MINAT, the Council did not just err in law – its members defecated on democracy; trading jurisprudence for sycophancy, and law for lèse-majesté; while reinforcing its image as an uncircumcised appendage and spineless puppet of the ruling CPDM party. What manner of justice crawls on its belly to serve the whims of power? What kind of court builds its rulings not on precedent, but on illegality and political expediency? The Council has now become what every dictatorship requires: a rubber-stamp chorus of cowards, cloaked in legality, but reeking of fear. With counterfeit authority, they mutilated the voters’ right to choose. These court-jesters are not guardians of the republic; they are the undertakers of the republic’s dying breath. This decision will be remembered as a national curse; a scar gouged into the face of Cameroonian democracy.

History Will Name Them

History has never been kind to those who mortgage the future of nations for the fleeting comfort of a tyrant’s approval. The names of these traitors- Clément Atangana, Florence Rita Arrey, Émile Essombe,

Paul Nchoji Nkwi, Jean Baptiste Baskouda, Sanda Bah Oumarou, Charles Étienne Lekene Donfack, Ahmadou Tidjani, Adolphe Minkoa She, Aaron Logmo Beleck, Monique Ouli Ndongo – shall be recorded, not with honor, but with the indelible ink of shame. Their legacy will not be that of learned jurists, but of accomplices to repression, the assassins of a people’s dream. Let them know: robes rot, titles fade, power expires, but betrayal is immortal. No amount of legal contortion will erase the truth. The Council did not interpret the law; they strangled it. They did not deliver judgment; they delivered complacency. They did not uphold the constitution; they cremated it, and then danced around its ashes like jesters in a haunted palace.

The ossified Biya regime is terrified – not of Kamto’s politics, but of his popularity -his ability to mobilize the nation, articulate the frustrations of a destitute people, and to present a vision of a new Cameroon. Instead of defeating him at the ballot box, they have chosen the path of the despot: eliminate the challenger, muzzle dissent, and rig the race before it begins. This is the logic of tyrants. Cameroon today is ruled not by law, but by fear dressed in constitutional disguise. Let us be absolutely clear: Kamto did not lose the 2018 presidential election – he was robbed like Fru Ndi in 1992. And now, the regime is ensuring that he does not even get a chance to contest. This is not just an electoral hold-up. This is a premeditated assassination of Cameroon’s already battered democratic system.

With Kamto removed from the ballot, October 12 is not an election – it is an anointing. A theatrical coronation of an already-entrenched regime, cloaked in the illusion of popular choice. This insult to democracy will not go unnoticed. Cameroonians are not blind. They see the charade and know what is happening. They smell the rot. They feel the betrayal. From Maroua to Bamenda, from Yaoundé to the Diaspora, they know that without a credible challenger like Kamto, the upcoming election is a pageant, not a poll – a coronation masquerading as choice. The message is clear: there is no ballot in Biya’s Cameroon; only bullets, bans, and betrayal.

In a country already buckling under multiple crises, from armed conflict in the Anglophone regions, to spiraling poverty, to corruption so rampant it is practically government policy; this decision is a match tossed onto a powder keg. Already, tensions are rising. Protests are breaking out. People are boiling with rage. The authorities are pushing the country dangerously close to the edge of chaos, and when the violence comes, let no one feign surprise. A government that crushes ballots will eventually meet bullets. Kamto has long stood for peaceful resistance and dialogue. But even his patience cannot pacify a generation that sees no future under a regime that treats their dreams with scorn and arrogance.

Where is the international community that claims to defend democracy and human rights? To remain silent in the face of such blatant democratic sabotage is to be complicit. To accept this travesty is to betray every Cameroonian who still believes in a better tomorrow. Sanctions must be considered. Visa bans on members of ELECAM and the Constitutional Council should follow. And international election observers must not lend legitimacy to a charade they know is rigged.

This Is Not Over

There is a river swelling in the hearts of Cameroonians. It is fed by anger, suffering, and stolen choices. When that river bursts its banks, it will wash away not only the symbols of oppression but those who enabled them with gavel and gown. The Constitutional Council may think itself safe within the marble chambers of privilege. But marble cracks, and chambers echo. When the people rise – and rise they will – no robe will be thick enough to shield them from the storm they helped sow. Kamto may be off the ballot, but he remains the face of the resistance, the voice of a silenced majority, and the nightmare of a regime on life support.

To the Constitutional Council: You have traded truth for tyranny, justice for a bowl of stale porridge, and history will not forgive you. You may silence one man. but you cannot silence a nation that has awakened to its own power. To Biya and his clique: you may block Kamto from the race, but you cannot block the tide of history. The hour is late. The mask has fallen. Every tyrant believes they can cheat time. But every regime that silences its people will, eventually, be silenced by them. The fight for Cameroon’s democracy is not over – it has just begun.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

6, August 2025

Biya: how an aging despot’s grip on power could unravel Central Africa ⁰

A few weeks ago, 92-year-old Cameroonian President Paul Biya announced his intention to run for an eighth term in the country’s forthcoming election. This announcement, shocking, albeit widely anticipated, is already fueling fear that the country’s stability could be at risk, with wider implications for regional security.

The aged leader, who has ruled Cameroon with an iron fist since 1982, is easily the oldest president anywhere in the world. Indeed, only a few Cameroonians alive remember a time without Biya in power. Yet recent health scares seem to suggest that he may have reached the limit of his natural abilities. In 2008, his regime carried out a constitutional amendment to annul the two-term limit — clearing Biya’s path to rule for life through elections that, although regular, have been neither free nor fair.

Under his 43-year rule, the country of 29 million has gone from a period of relative stability to one of crisis and conflict. Approximately four in 10 Cameroonians live below the national poverty line, while unemployment, especially among school leavers, is high. This is in spite of Cameroon’s rich endowment of natural resources, including oil and natural gas, aluminum and gold.

Since 2014, Cameroon has also come under attack by Boko Haram in the far north while a secessionist insurgency is devastating the country’s Anglophone regions. Cameroon is divided into French and English-speaking regions — a development rooted in the country’s colonial past. The conflict, now in its seventh year, was precipitated in late 2016 by the state’s mishandling of peaceful protests that erupted against the application of the French civil law system by courts in the Anglophone regions. The crisis has led to over 6,000 deaths and the displacement of a million people internally and to neighboring Nigeria.

In the same vein, the Boko Haram conflict has resulted in numerous deaths and the internal displacement of well over 300,000 people, not to mention the disruption of local economies that has led to widespread food insecurity.

To combat the threat, Biya, who is known for a non-aligned foreign approach that has permitted him to play off multiple great powers, recently has had to lean quite heavily on U.S. support for funding and training of the country’s elite Rapid Intervention Brigade (BIR), as well as troops from the Multinational Joint Task Force that Washington established with Cameroon’s neighbors, Nigeria and Chad. U.S. training of Cameroon’s military personnel is valued at $600,000 annually. Washington also has a drone base with approximately 200 personnel stationed in Garoua, a city in northeastern Cameroon, to support the military in its operations against extremism. Cameroon remains one of the diminishing number of former French colonies in sub-Saharan Africa that permits foreign military bases on its territory.

At the same time, Cameroon weighs heavily on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s expansionist aims in the Sahel and West Africa. The country recently renewed a military cooperation agreement with Moscow while playing host to Afrique Média, a Russia-linked news organization generally regarded as Putin’s mouthpiece in the region. Such great-power attention illustrates Cameroon’s potential strategic importance.

In the meantime, the integrity of the October 12 election is already in jeopardy. Out of 83 candidates who submitted applications to run for president, the electoral body, Elections Cameroon, only approved 13, disqualifying Biya’s main challenger, Maurice Kamto, who was the runner-up in the 2018 elections when he won 14.2 percent of the vote. Although those disqualified from the presidential race can file a legal challenge, many Cameroonians don’t believe that anything will come of it.

With Kamto’s exclusion, Biya and his Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC) party will face less popular candidates, including two of the president’s allies, former Prime Minister Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary, who resigned in early June as employment minister. Unsurprisingly, their qualification has sparked accusations that Biya and the RDPC are orchestrating another sham election to retain their hold on power.

The resulting situation has heightened political tensions and fueled fears of unrest. On June 12, the U.S. Embassy in Yaounde, the capital, called for respect for press freedom and urged all parties concerned with the electoral process to act in a manner that “promotes peace, respects the rule of law, and upholds democratic norms.” But the situation remains uncertain as security forces have been deployed in the economic hub, Douala, and Yaounde, especially around the headquarters of the electoral council in anticipation of protests.

Biya’s insistence on running is, to put it mildly, bewildering. In a now distant era, Africa’s longstanding aging leaders, such as Senegal’s Léopold Sédar Senghor or Kenya’s Daniel Arap Moi, planned for their succession to both ensure a peaceful transition and preserve their legacies.. Biya’s current gambit suggests he has no such plans. His apparent determination to continue to rule until he nearly turns 100 — presidential terms run seven years — spells trouble to many Cameroonians.

Indeed, in a country where more than 60% of the population is under 25, Biya’s ambition may prove too much for the public and for the ambitions of other members of the ruling elite as they jockey for position in a post-Biya period. To a growing number of analysts, the evolving situation, especially if public protests become widespread and militant, could create a pretext for a military coup. Historically, Cameroon’s army has been loyal to Biya who has only experienced a coup once early in his long rule. Reputed as a master-manipulator of the security forces, Biya has managed to keep ambition in check by keeping the armed forces fragmented and through regular reshuffling.

But as the developments witnessed in Gabon just two years ago show, the specter of coup cannot be fully discounted in a situation of political stasis. In August 2023, Gabonese elite presidential guard mounted a coup that ended the half-century rule of the Bongo dynasty. The irony was that the coup occurred just hours after then-President Ali Bongo had pulled out all the stops to win an unconstitutional third term through an election that all observers, local and foreign, agree was neither free nor fair.

Before matters reach that point in Cameroon, regional bodies, including the African Union, the Economic Community of Central African States, and the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) may be able to exert influence on the upcoming electoral process to ensure greater inclusivity and adherence to basic democratic norms in the runup to the October election. The forthcoming poll is not simply a matter for Cameroonians alone but an important question for the region as well.

Culled from Responsible Statecraft

6, August 2025

Biya seeks alternative treasury funding amid surging T-Bill Costs ⁰

As of end-June 2025, Cameroon’s domestic public debt, excluding arrears, which are invoices pending payment for around three months, and floating debt, stood at CFA3,814.4 billion, representing 11.6% of GDP. The figure was disclosed by the Autonomous Sinking Fund (CAA) in its latest update on Cameroon’s public debt situation.

According to the CAA, 55% of this debt is made up of public securities issued by the government on the BEAC market. This market, operated by the central bank of the CEMAC region (Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Chad, and the Central African Republic), has become one of the Cameroonian state’s main financing sources.

On this market, the Treasury issues two main types of instruments: Treasury bonds (OTA), with maturities between two and ten years, typically used to finance infrastructure projects; and Treasury bills (BTA), with maturities under one year, mostly used to manage temporary cash flow needs.

However, as revealed in the CAA’s latest report, “with regard to Treasury bills in particular, which have increased by 11.6% year-on-year as of end-June 2025, discussions are underway to mitigate the underlying refinancing risk, due to mounting pressure on the domestic market’s capacity.”

In other words, faced with rising BTA issuance costs on the BEAC market in recent years—and the increasing difficulty for CEMAC states to raise targeted amounts because of competition and prudential limits on banks serving as primary dealers (SVTs)—the Cameroonian government is actively considering other financing options.

“It is within this context that the Head of State signed a decree on May 19, 2025, authorizing the Minister of Finance to raise loans on international financial markets, up to a maximum of CFA200 billion, for the purpose of financing 2025 Treasury operations,” the CAA noted.

At the same time, the government is working to secure the full mobilization of the funds it seeks on the domestic market, despite saturation among local intermediaries—mainly the SVT banks. To that end, it has taken steps to attract new investors to the subregional public securities market.

In July 2025, Cameroon raised CFA200 billion on the BEAC market through a bond issuance supported by a swap arrangement that allowed Afreximbank to convert foreign currency into local currency. This made it possible for the bank to subscribe to the public offering.

Thanks to this deal with the Cameroonian government, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) became the first foreign investor to participate in the BEAC public securities market, which has been operational for nearly 14 years.

The transaction also comes ahead of a leadership change at Afreximbank. Starting in September 2025, Cameroonian legal expert George Elombi is set to take over as head of the pan-African institution.

Source: Business in Cameroon