Headline News

8, September 2026

Bishop George Nkuo marks 20 years of Episcopal Ministry ⁰

Bishop George Nkuo of Cameroon’s Catholic Diocese of Kumbo has marked the 20th anniversary of his Episcopal Ordination with thanksgiving, reflecting on the journey of his Priestly and Episcopal ministry and asking for the grace to continue serving God’s people with hope, compassion and perseverance.

Speaking during a Thanksgiving Mass marking the anniversary on Tuesday, September 8, Bishop Nkuo thanked members of the St. Augustine’s College (SAC) community who joined him in prayer, saying the occasion offered him an opportunity to look back on the two decades since he was ordained a Bishop.

He reminded those gathered that while the occasion marked a personal milestone, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist must remain centered on Jesus Christ.

“It’s Christ who is the center of our celebration. So let us not shift our attention from Christ to the Bishop. It’s Christ Himself who is present with us,” he said.

The Local Ordinary of Kumbo shared a personal prayer inspired by his reflection earlier in the day on the Blessed Virgin Mary, inviting the faithful to pray with him as he renewed his entrustment of his Priestly ministry to the Mother of Jesus.

“Mary, Mother of Jesus and my Mother, I entrust my Priesthood to you again,” he said.

Reflecting on two images of Mary — holding the infant Jesus at Bethlehem and standing with Christ in the mystery of His suffering and redemption — the Catholic Bishop asked for the grace to make his ministry one of liberation and service.

“I ask for intercession that my Priestly ministry will always be one of redeeming the people I serve from whatever holds them back from becoming more than the human being God wants them to be. This is my vocation. This is my work. This is my life,” he said.

The Local Ordinary of Kumbo, since September 2006 asked Mary to help him treasure in his heart the blessings God has bestowed upon him and to develop a more positive outlook in the face of difficulties and disappointments.

Bishop Nkuo acknowledged that ministers of the Church can sometimes become overly focused on what goes wrong, the suffering people experience and the disappointments encountered in life.

He said he had prayed for the grace to look beyond suffering and failure and to recognize the hope offered by Christ’s Resurrection.

“I need you to have a more positive outlook. That’s my prayer this morning, and I know you can help me,” he said.

The Catholic Bishop then expressed one of the central reflections of his anniversary prayer: “I want to be able to look at the crucifix and see Easter.”

Bishop Nkuo said he wanted to learn to see failure and rejection not as reasons for despair but as opportunities to learn and improve.

“I want to treat failure and rejection as information about how I can do better. I know from experience that I have a chance. I can dwell on negative outcomes or on positive projections. Help me to choose the latter,” he said.

The Bishop of Kumbo said a more positive attitude would enable him to approach those entrusted to his pastoral care with greater hope.

“With a more positive attitude, Mary my Mother, I can approach the people I am serving with greater hope. And this is certainly what they need,” he said.

Reflecting on his ministry as a preacher of the Gospel, Bishop Nkuo noted that many people who come to Church carry the burdens of difficult experiences from their daily lives.

“When I stand at the pulpit on the weekend, I need to realize the people before me have come from a week of hardships, difficulties, disappointments, tensions, and heartaches. And they are looking to me to give them a reason to go back into their daily lives and try again to persevere,” he said.

He therefore asked Mary, whom he described as one who persevered through the different stages of her Son’s public ministry and stood at the foot of the Cross, to help him nourish God’s people with the Gospel.

“You know what people need, and you can help me to feed them the solid food of the Gospel to nourish them in their perseverance,” he implored.

The Bishop also asked for the grace to empathize with those facing difficulties even when he himself needs encouragement and support.

“Help me, Mother of Joy and Mother of Sorrow, to bring reinforcement into the people’s lives and to empathize with people’s problems even while I myself am looking for understanding and support,” he said.

Bishop Nkuo, who was ordained a Priest for the Diocese of Buea in April 1981, expressed his desire to remain rooted in the mystery of Christ’s Incarnation, suffering, death and Resurrection.

He prayed for the grace to “kneel before the King of Bethlehem” and to remain faithful at the Cross of Calvary, believing that the Risen Christ continues to accompany and strengthen him.

He asked Mary to help him remain convinced “with all my heart that the Son now risen is always with me and within me, strengthening me with the resurrection power to persevere.”

Culled from aciafrica

8, September 2026

Yaoundé: Papal Nuncio says ‘preventing children from going to school is diabolical’ ⁰

At the start of the 2026/2027 academic year in Cameroon, the Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon, Archbishop José Avelino Bettencourt, warns against the forced boycott of schools in Cameroon’s English-speaking regions.

For the past ten years, the North West and South West regions have been reeling from a separatist crisis, with the boycott of schools a cornerstone of the separatist strategy.

The statistics have been stark. According to UNICEF, the crisis has forced the closure of more than 6,000 schools, affecting more than 800,000 children.

A report by Save the Children indicates that, on average, children in the North West region have lost three and a half years of schooling due to the crisis, and that the number of teenage pregnancies in the North West region has increased by 45 percent because of the crisis.

In addition, thousands of teachers have fled the region, with the World Bank reporting that absenteeism rates in both regions are as high as 50 percent.

According to Human Rights Watch, armed groups have attacked at least 75 schools and abducted over 150 education personnel since 2016.

Bettencourt says children have become the ultimate victims of these developments.

With schools opening their doors on September 7 for the start of the 2026/27 academic year, the Portuguese-Canadian prelate warns that forcing kids out of school is “utterly diabolical.”

“As the new school year begins, our thoughts go to the most vulnerable members of our community, the children,” the archbishop said.

“Preventing children from going to school is wrong,” the nuncio said in a video message published on September 1.

“Violence is never acceptable. Let that be quite clear,” he added.

Bishop George Nkuo of Kumbo in the North West Region has issued a similar call, telling Crux Now that children’s right to education must not be negotiable.

“Ask me what can be the greatest gift that can be given to children, especially the underprivileged, in a community plagued by sociopolitical unrest, and I will remind you of what men of old used to say: that the man who turns his back to education invites poverty into his household,” Nkuo said.

Kumbo has been the epicenter of separatist violence, and the impact on society has been incalculable.

“Kidnappings and torture — both physical and psychological — have tragically become common in Kumbo over the past few years. I have witnessed thousands of children of all ages leaving Kumbo out of fear,” Nkuo told Crux Now.

“The population is on edge; they are terrified of the lockdowns and the chaos that rules the streets,” he added.

“We have seen so many people flee Kumbo because they have been targeted, and the number of victims is staggering. I have seen people begging for food just to feed their children,” the bishop explained.

“Confused and lost, they face military checkpoints and heavy separatist controls on the roads where we are all advised to stay away. So many people have been kidnapped — victims of a senseless cycle of abduction,” Nkuo told Crux Now.

On Aug. 30, the bishop celebrated Mass for a male-dominated Church group in the diocese known as the Samba Action Group. It’s an annual Mass usually celebrated at the start of each school year.

Given the crisis’s impact on education, the group has initiated what it calls “Giving Someone a Future,” with the overarching aim of supporting the bishop in sponsoring underprivileged children in school.

Nkuo said he was glad that, despite the ongoing socio-political crisis, the group has continued to encourage children to pursue an education.

“This resilience is remarkable given that kidnappings and torture, both physical and psychological, have been all too common in Kumbo in recent years,” the bishop said.

Describing the members of the Samba Action Group as modeling the Christian values of parenthood, he noted that “even those [members] who may not have had the educational opportunities they desired understand that education is indispensable for any society hoping for a bright future.”

“Is this, then, not an initiative worthy of emulation and support by all?” Nkuo said.

Meanwhile, various separatist factions, historically united in calling for a boycott of schools in the two regions, have been sending mixed signals ahead of the start of the new school year.

The Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), the largest separatist faction, has urged parents to facilitate the unconditional return of children to school.

The Interim Government (IG) has also said it is open to allowing kids to resume school.

John Mbah Akuroh, who leads The Consortium, a civil society group advocating for the independence of Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, told Crux Now that separatist groups had ended the era of school boycotts.

“We don’t do school boycotts anymore,” he said.

“We need our children back in school, and we are doing everything to ensure that children go to school in a very conducive environment,” Akuroh told Crux Now.

Culled from Crux

8, September 2026

Iran seizes cutting-edge US unmanned submersible in Strait of Hormuz ⁰

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy announced that it has successfully intercepted and captured a highly advanced, unmanned American underwater vehicle at the entrance of the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the IRGC Navy stated that the seizure was carried out in the early hours of the day following a “complex intelligence and operational action.”

The unmanned submersible incorporates some of the world’s most advanced underwater technology and was delivered to the US terrorist military in 2025, the statement said.

The IRGC announced that photographic evidence and detailed footage of the captured US asset would be released in the coming hours.

Iranian news agency Tasnim identified the captured system as a Dive-LD, an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle developed by US defense technology company Anduril Industries and first delivered to the US Navy’s Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Group 1 in 2025.

The vehicle is approximately 5.8 meters long, has a diameter of about 1.2 meters and weighs roughly 2.7 tonnes.

Its published specifications include an endurance of up to 10 days underwater and a maximum operating depth of around 6,000 meters.

Designed as a modular autonomous platform, the Dive-LD can be configured for missions including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, seabed mapping, infrastructure inspection and mine-countermeasure operations.

The capture comes amid a sharp escalation between Iran and the United States over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important maritime chokepoints.

The waterway has increasingly become a key arena in the US war on Iran, prompting Tehran to assert greater control over maritime activity in and around the strait.

Recent military exchanges have included US strikes on Iranian oil tankers and Iranian missile attacks targeting US naval forces.

On September 6, Iran said it had struck a US unmanned vessel attempting to enter a restricted area near Hormuz.

The capture of the unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) marks the latest in a long history of Iran intercepting and seizing advanced Western military technology.

Over the past decade, Iranian forces have successfully downed or captured numerous high-value US assets, including the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and various underwater gliders and surface vessels in the Persian Gulf.

Reverse-engineering these captured technologies have historically played a significant role in accelerating Iran’s domestic drone and unmanned naval programs.

8, September 2026

Douala spends CFA7 billion on waste but 900 tons still go uncollected each day ⁰

Douala has budgeted CFA7 billion for waste management in 2026, yet an estimated 900 tons of household garbage still go uncollected each day, underscoring the limits of a new appeal for residents to package their waste in sealed bags.

The Douala City Council (CUD) urged residents on September 2 to place household waste in properly sealed garbage bags before taking it to designated disposal points. The city says the practice makes collection easier, prevents garbage from spreading through streets and helps protect the urban environment.

The recommendation is simple, but it comes with a direct cost for households: garbage bags have to be purchased. For families that generate waste every day, regular use represents another recurring household expense. The burden can vary considerably depending on household size, the volume of waste produced and the type of bags purchased.

Some households still use repurposed packaging, buckets or other containers to store waste before disposal, reflecting the different financial circumstances of residents across the city.

The larger challenge, however, extends well beyond the price of a garbage bag.

Douala generates about 2,700 tons of household waste every day, according to figures from the city council. Waste management company Hysacam says it collects about 1,800 tons daily, or close to 70% of the estimated total. That leaves roughly 900 tons outside the collection system each day.

Accessibility problems in some neighborhoods, along with constraints in pre-collection and transportation, further complicate waste management.

Properly sealed bags can make a difference. They prevent some garbage from scattering, reduce certain nuisances and make waste easier for collection workers to handle. They can also help keep garbage out of drainage channels, an important concern in a city that regularly faces flooding.

But packaging is only one step. It works only if an effective collection system takes over afterward.

Household Costs Meet Collection Constraints

For residents, regular use of dedicated garbage bags means an additional expense whose size depends on the household and the amount of waste it generates. The issue is not whether bags are useful: properly packaged garbage is clearly easier to handle than waste dumped directly onto the ground.

The challenge is to make the practice accessible to as many households as possible without imposing a disproportionate burden on lower-income residents.

Garbage bags also cannot substitute for collection. A sealed bag left on a sidewalk, vacant lot or beside a drain remains improperly managed waste. Packaging only works when households have appropriate disposal points and the waste is subsequently collected.

Douala’s waste management chain involves several stages, from household storage to pre-collection, collection, transportation, transfer and treatment. A breakdown at any stage can weaken the entire system.

In hard-to-reach neighborhoods, pre-collection helps move garbage toward the main collection network. Elsewhere, the frequency of garbage truck services and the availability of suitable disposal points largely determine whether the system works effectively.

That means urban sanitation cannot depend solely on residents’ behavior. Households have a role to play by avoiding illegal dumping, following designated disposal locations and schedules, properly packaging waste and keeping garbage out of public spaces.

But individual efforts also depend on a functioning public service. Suitable bins, accessible collection points, organized pre-collection services and regular waste removal remain essential.

CFA7 Billion for Waste Management in 2026

Waste management also represents a substantial expense for the city. Douala has allocated CFA7 billion to garbage management in its 2026 budget.

The city government has also announced CFA100 million for district councils. The funding is intended in part to help associations and small and medium-sized businesses acquire garbage bins and bags for pre-collection services that move household waste to collection points.

Those figures put the household garbage bag into a broader financial context. The bag itself represents only a small part of a system that requires spending on equipment, workers, fuel, vehicles, maintenance, transportation and treatment.

Poorly managed waste also carries indirect costs through clogged drains, unsanitary neighborhoods, disruption for residents and additional cleanup operations.

The CUD’s appeal therefore highlights the role households can play in keeping Douala clean, but garbage bags alone cannot address the scale of the city’s waste challenge. Their usefulness ultimately depends on what happens before and after households use them: residents’ practices, pre-collection services, accessible disposal points, regular collection and the resources available to remove and process the waste.

The question for Douala is therefore not simply whether residents can put their garbage in bags, but whether the city’s waste system can ensure those bags ultimately reach their proper destination.

Source: Sbbc

7, September 2026

Yaoundé: gov’t orders investigation after 15 underage girls were found in Essos apartment ⁰

Cameroonian authorities have opened an investigation after 15 underage girls were found in a home in Yaoundé’s Essos district on September 2, while the government has ordered protection and psychosocial support for the children as investigators work to establish why they were there.

In a statement issued on September 4, Social Affairs Minister Pauline Irène Nguene condemned “any act likely to harm the physical or moral integrity of children” and announced that the relevant government services had taken responsibility for their care.

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs (MINAS), authorities intervened after receiving an anonymous report. The circumstances that brought the children to the house on Rue des Pavés remain unclear. The ministry said they “may have been held by individuals” and that investigations are underway to establish the facts and determine any potential responsibility.

MINAS services, alongside other relevant government agencies, have been mobilized to protect the minors, ensure their safety and provide psychosocial support. Nguene also urged the public to report missing or vulnerable children, or suspected cases of trafficking, exploitation or violence, through the 1503 hotline.

According to Cameroon Tribune, 15 underage girls were found at the property on September 2. Two women who were at the scene were also taken to Yaoundé’s Central Police Station No. 4. Authorities have not officially established that a child-trafficking network was involved, nor have they explained why the girls were being kept at the house.

Anne Féconde Noah Calls for Severe Penalties

Anne Féconde Noah, vice president of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), praised the intervention by law enforcement and residents who helped with the operation. She called for investigators to identify everyone who may have been involved.

The opposition official also demanded particularly severe penalties for anyone ultimately found guilty. If investigators establish that the children suffered abuse, Noah wants the death penalty imposed on the perpetrators, accomplices and others who participated in the acts.

If no physical abuse is established, she has called for life imprisonment without the possibility of a pardon, along with strict limits on prison visits. Her demands come before investigators have established the precise conditions in which the children were living, where they came from or the responsibility of the people detained.

Source: Sbbc

7, September 2026

Douala: US firm Cybastion plans $75 Million AI data center and power plant ⁰

US company Cybastion plans to invest $75 million, about CFA42.25 billion, in a data center in Douala designed in part for artificial intelligence applications and supported by dedicated power generation capacity.

The project was among the investment proposals presented at the first Cameroon-US Economic and Commercial Dialogue, held in Yaoundé on August 27, 2026. Cybastion describes the planned facility as a “sovereign data center” that would provide computing capacity, storage and other digital services locally. Several critical specifications, however, remain undisclosed. The company has provided no details on the data center’s computing capacity, the size of the planned power plant or the technology that would generate its electricity.

The construction schedule, exact location in Douala and financing structure for the $75 million investment have also not been disclosed. At this stage, the project therefore remains an investment proposal rather than a fully secured financing commitment.

Dedicated Power Generation Capacity

The inclusion of dedicated power generation is one of the project’s distinguishing features. Data centers require a continuous and stable electricity supply for servers, cooling systems and other equipment, while infrastructure designed to support AI applications can require even greater amounts of power.

The issue reflects concerns already identified in Cameroon. A study by the National Agency for Information and Communication Technologies Development (CENADI) on the competitiveness and viability of data centers examined their business models and operating constraints.

Cybastion would not, however, enter a market without existing infrastructure. CAMTEL already operates a Tier III-certified data center in Zamengoé, near Yaoundé. In Douala, ST Digital also operates a private data center equipped with infrastructure dedicated to artificial intelligence. Posts and Telecommunications Minister Minette Libom Li Likeng visited the facility in July 2025.

Cybastion’s project would therefore need to distinguish itself through factors such as capacity, customers, hosting costs and available power. Those details have yet to be disclosed.

A $66 Million Precedent in Côte d’Ivoire

Cybastion already has a comparable project in West Africa. In August 2025, the Export-Import Bank of the United States approved a $66.14 million guarantee to support construction of Côte d’Ivoire’s national data center.

Under that financing structure, Côte d’Ivoire’s Finance Ministry is the borrower, Cybastion Institute of Technology is the exporter and Citibank is the lender covered by the US guarantee. In May 2026, EXIM named the transaction its “Industries of the Future Deal of the Year.”

No comparable financing arrangement has yet been announced for Cameroon. Cybastion’s proposed $75 million investment forms part of roughly $7 billion, or nearly CFA4 trillion, in US commercial and investment opportunities identified during the Yaoundé dialogue.

Cameroon’s Ministry of Economy, Planning and Regional Development (MINEPAT), however, says the projects are at different stages of development and describes the announced amounts as investment intentions that still need to translate into concrete projects.

For Cybastion’s project, the next key developments will therefore include the identity of its financiers, the capacity of the data center and power plant, the choice of site, the construction timetable and any commitments made by the Cameroonian government.

Source: Business in Cameroon

7, September 2026

Ambazonia fighters enforce weeklong lockdown in Southern Cameroons ⁰

Armed separatists are enforcing a weeklong lockdown in Cameroon’s conflict-hit English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions, leading to renewed clashes, residents and security sources said.

Separatist leaders announced on social media that the lockdown, which began Monday, aims to disrupt the start of the new school year.

In Bamenda, the capital of the Northwest Region, residents described a tense atmosphere, with schools closed and movement severely restricted.

“We heard gunshots. People are really afraid. The streets are deserted. Shops are closed, and almost all activities have stopped,” a resident, who requested anonymity, said.

In a video posted online Sunday, armed separatist fighters threatened to “kill anyone who attempts to step out” during the lockdown period.

Security officials said additional troops had been deployed to both regions to conduct day and night patrols. On Sunday, regional authorities assured residents that security had been tightened and urged them to continue their daily activities.

The Northwest and Southwest regions have seen armed conflict since 2017, when separatists began fighting government forces to establish an independent state.

7, September 2026

Ekondo Titi: 9 killed in Kombo Itindi boat collision ⁰

At least nine people have died after two passenger boats collided in south west region, security sources and residents said Monday.

The accident occurred early Sunday morning around Gold Coast Creek in Kombo Itindi Subdivision.

According to local sources, a 250-horsepower boat coming from Ikang, Nigeria, collided with a 75-horsepower speedboat that had departed Ekondo Titi, Cameroon, en route to Nigeria.

Local journalist Solomon Agborem said that an eight-year-old was among the dead.

“Where the collision happened is a creek. There is a bend there and visibility was difficult since it was the early hours of Sunday morning,” Agborem said by phone.

Witnesses said the bodies of the victims were retrieved and brought ashore. It was not immediately clear if there were additional injuries.

The creek is a busy waterway used for cross-border travel between Cameroon and Nigeria.

6, September 2026

FIFA boss Infantino to seek re-election ⁰

Gianni Infantino will stand in next March’s FIFA presidential election football’s global governing body announced Sunday.

“The FIFA President announced in April that he will stand for re-election in 2027,” a FIFA spokesperson said. “Of course, nothing has changed. Mr Infantino will be standing for re-election.”

The 56-year-old Swiss has taken a pummelling since the announcement in late July of his short-lived FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE) plan to bring private investment into FIFA events.

But now for the first time since the plan became public, FIFA has reiterated Infantino’s intention to run for a fourth and final term in next year’s elections.

Should he be re-elected, he will continue to serve as head of world football until 2031.

Infantino is in Poland for the Women’s Under-20 World Cup, but refused to answer queries about his future when questioned by journalists on Saturday.

Only candidate

European body UEFA has accused Infantino of “criminal mismanagement” over the scheme and was the ringleader of the initial fightback to the announcement, including threatening to boycott all FIFA competitions, including the men’s and women’s World Cups, if it was not shelved.

If UEFA withdrew its threat to boycott FIFA tournaments on August 27 – ahead of the Women’s Under-20 World Cup in Poland – it remains absolute in its conviction that Infantino must depart his role.

The European body has filed requests in the USA for the disclosure of documents related to the plan from FIFA and partners.

If successful in gaining access to the documents, UEFA had said it intends to lodge a legal complaint in Switzerland, saying it has been assured the case would meet the requirements to be heard in a Swiss court.

It has also found solid support from North American body CONCACAF and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) in its actions against Infantino.

The three confederations have kept up the pressure and collaborated on a no-holds-barred joint letter issued last month.

Montagliani, a FIFA vice-president, had long been regarded as a close ally of Infantino, but there were signs, even before he distanced himself over the now-scrapped plan to allow private investment into World Cups, that he viewed FIFA’s purpose somewhat differently to the Swiss.

But Infantino is not without friends – 2034 World Cup hosts Saudi Arabia came out in support last month, with African football’s governing body CAF and South America’s CONMEBOL supportive, too.

Earlier in September, FIFA also accused UEFA of a “smear campaign” and a “fishing expedition” against Infantino.

As the only declared candidate so far for the election due to take place in Rabat, Infantino will need a simple majority of votes from the 211 federations affiliated to FIFA to extend his term of office, which began in 2016 and was renewed in 2023.

Candidate nominations for next year’s election must be submitted by November 18.

Source: AFP

6, September 2026

Who really pushed for the return of the Vice President of the Republic? ⁰

There is a question that the authorities in Yaoundé have so far avoided answering plainly: who really pushed for the return of the Vice President of the Republic?

On paper, the answer appears straightforward. President Paul Biya initiated the constitutional amendment that brought back the office abolished in 1972. Parliament subsequently approved it in April 2026, giving the Vice President a potentially decisive constitutional role as the successor to the Head of State in the event of death, resignation or permanent incapacity.

But politics is rarely as simple as the official paperwork suggests. If this was genuinely President Biya’s personal political project, then Cameroonians deserve to know why the idea became urgent now. Why, after decades without a vice-presidency, did the regime suddenly decide that the country’s constitutional architecture was incomplete? And why has the office remained vacant? That question has become even more difficult to ignore.

At the end of December 2025, President Biya promised that a new government would be formed “in the coming days.” Months later, Cameroon still has no new post-election government. Yet, in the midst of this institutional uncertainty, the authorities found the political energy and parliamentary machinery to amend the Constitution and create a new office whose principal significance is succession.

That juxtaposition deserves scrutiny. If it was Biya’s idea, where is Biya’s Vice President?

The President has the constitutional power to appoint the Vice President. The office was therefore not created as an independent institution beyond his control. It was created as an institution whose occupant depends entirely on the President’s choice. Yet months after its restoration, there is still no Vice President.

This creates a remarkable political paradox. The regime told the country that the new office was necessary for institutional continuity. But when the President subsequently spent more than two months abroad, the country still had no Vice President. Biya returned to Yaoundé on August 20 after more than ten weeks away, while the position remained vacant. If the Vice Presidency was principally about guaranteeing continuity, the prolonged vacancy raises a very obvious question: Continuity for whom, and for what purpose? Was the Vice Presidency really about succession? The timing is impossible to ignore.

Cameroon entered 2026 after one of the most contested presidential elections in its recent history. Issa Tchiroma Bakary challenged the official outcome and claimed victory, while the government maintained that Biya had won another term.

Biya, at 93, is the world’s oldest serving head of state. Against that backdrop, restoring an office that automatically places its holder at the centre of presidential succession cannot reasonably be treated as an ordinary administrative reform.

It is a succession reform. And succession is ultimately about power. This is precisely why the public deserves more than the official explanation that the Vice President will guarantee stability. Stability is the stated reason. Who benefits from the new constitutional arrangement is the more important question.

So who was behind the idea? There are multiple possibilities, but they should not be confused with established facts in Yaoundé. Maybe the idea originated with President Biya himself and reflects his assessment that the constitutional succession mechanism needed strengthening. It could be also that senior officials around the presidency persuaded Biya that the old system was too risky. Likely influential figures within the ruling CPDM establishment saw an opportunity to shape the succession before the inevitable transition at the top. Perhaps the proposal emerged from competing interests around the Biya family and the wider power network that has grown around the Unity Palace. Or imaginably several of these forces converged on the same conclusion.

At present, publicly available evidence establishes who formally submitted the proposal, but it does not establish who first conceived it, who lobbied for it inside the presidency or who influenced the precise constitutional design. And that is exactly where serious journalism should begin. The unanswered question of the presidency! The most revealing development may therefore not be the creation of the Vice Presidency itself, but what happens next.

Who will be appointed? Why that person? When will the appointment be made? What political constituency will the appointee represent? And, most importantly, who will have persuaded President Biya that this particular person should stand next to him at the top of the succession ladder?

These questions matter because the Vice President under the new arrangement is not merely another government official. The office potentially determines who inherits the presidency when the current occupant can no longer continue. That makes the identity of the future Vice President a matter of national interest.

A nation deserves to know who is designing its succession

For more than four decades, Cameroon has operated around the extraordinary political longevity of one man. The question of what comes after Paul Biya has consequently been one of the country’s most sensitive political questions. The reintroduction of the Vice Presidency has now brought that question into the Constitution itself. But instead of clarifying the succession debate, the reform has arguably made it more intriguing.

If the office was urgently required to protect institutional continuity, why has it not yet been filled? If it was designed with succession in mind, why has the President not identified the person who will eventually stand first in line?

And if President Biya was indeed the sole driving force behind the reform, why has nobody publicly explained what changed his mind after decades without a Vice President?

Cameroon should not have to rely on rumours, Unity Palace whispers and social-media speculation to understand a constitutional change of this magnitude. The CPDM Central Committee should tell the country: Who proposed the Vice Presidency? Who pushed for it? Who advised the President? Who drafted the political strategy behind it? And whose interests does the new succession architecture ultimately serve? Until these questions are answered, the official explanation of “continuity” will remain incomplete. Because in Yaoundé, as in every political capital, the most important question is sometimes not who signed the document, but who persuaded the person holding the pen.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai