Cameroon’s elderly president Paul Biya was absent from the country on Sunday as campaigning kicked into high gear for October 12 polls to decide who will fill his position.

The 92-year-old — the world’s oldest head of state, in power since 1982 — is seeking an eighth term in office.

But he left Cameroon a week ago on a “private trip” to Europe, according to his office. Diplomatic sources have said the leader, who is rarely seen in public, was in Geneva.

Campaigning started on Saturday and continued on Sunday with Biya’s main rivals holding rallies.

Cabral Libii, candidate of the opposition Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), held his under light rain in the coastal city of Douala.

A former tourism minister, Bello Bouba Maigari, who is also running, roused several hundred National Union for Democracy and Progress party members in his own rally, alongside another candidate, Akere Muna, who has dropped out of the race and given him his support.

A total of 12 candidates were cleared to vie for the presidency, including Biya.

The outgoing president has not directly addressed his fellow citizens since July 13, when he announced his candidacy on the social media platform X.

Biya — who is seen as a favourite to win, given the divided opposition — was embarrassed on September 17 when his daughter Brenda Biya posted a video to TikTok urging her followers to abandon her father.

She later deleted the video and posted an apology.

A 2018 investigation of economic crime by a consortium of journalists found Paul Biya had spent some 4.5 years of his presidency abroad, largely in Switzerland, at an estimated cost of $65 million.

The president failed to show as scheduled at the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday, represented instead by his foreign minister.

By Queen Besumbu Agbaw

Cameroon’s presidential race officially began on Saturday, with 12 candidates, including one woman, vying for the country’s highest office.

The campaign will last for two weeks, culminating in the presidential election on Oct. 12.

Incumbent President Paul Biya, leader of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, is seeking to extend his 43-year rule by winning another seven-year mandate.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary and Bello Bouba Maigari, former ministers and ex-allies of Biya, are among the main opposition contenders.

Joshua Osih, candidate of the leading opposition Social Democratic Front, launched his campaign in Bamenda, the chief town of the English-speaking Northwest Region, which has been ravaged by an armed separatist conflict since 2017.

Separatist fighters have imposed a month-long lockdown to disrupt the election in the war-torn English-speaking regions of the Northwest and Southwest, where they are seeking to create an independent nation.

Source: Xinhuanet

As Cameroonians brace for the high stakes presidential election on October 12, 2025, the political terrain is as fractured as ever.

Calls for a united opposition have intensified, especially among the growing number of citizens desperate for political change after decades of entrenched incumbency.

At one time, all eyes turned to Professor Maurice Kamto, the man many believed could play a pivotal king-making role. Yet in a puzzling twist, Kamto has chosen to sit on the sidelines, refusing to endorse any of the opposition candidates despite the expectations placed on him.

His neutrality is deafening and dangerous.

Kamto, the leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM) and arguably the most prominent opposition figure in the country since the 2018 election, has long been hailed as a beacon of hope by many Cameroonians.

His intellectual rigor, legal expertise and previous political defiance, have earned him respect and admiration. However, his recent refusal to guide voters or rally behind a consensus candidate is forcing even his most ardent supporters to ask if he truly wants change?

After being rejected from the presidential race, a controversial move that itself warrants scrutiny, Kamto found himself in a unique position. He may not be on the ballot but he still hold moral and political capital. In moments like these, true leadership reveals itself not in the pursuit of power but in how one uses influence for the common good.

Unfortunately, Kamto has refused to endorse any of the remaining opposition candidates. This decision has baffled many who saw in him a potential architect of opposition unity.

Ironically, while he criticized the two northern candidates for not consolidating their bids, he himself failed to make any unifying move. Instead of stepping up to foster dialogue, rally the fragmented opposition or point his supporters in the right direction,  Kamto has opted for neutrality, a stance that now reeks of political convenience.

This raises many questions. Can a man who has refused to support any opposition candidate still claim to champion democratic change in the country?

There is a risk of fragmentation which implies a dispersion of votes, making the ruling party a winner.

The Cameroonian opposition has long been its own worse enemy. Chronic disunity, ego problems and lack of strategic coherence have repeatedly handed victory to the ruling party. In the face of growing public discontent, Prof. Kamto’s refusal to act as a unifier at such a crucial juncture only reinforces this damaging pattern.

There is no shortage of capable candidates in the current race. However, if votes will be shared among  multiple opposition parties, the dying regime will once again find itself in a favorable position, not necessarily because it is strong but because the opposition is weak, divided and without the right mindset.

Kamto’s refusal to back even one of these candidates or to initiate a dialogue that could lead to a united front is not just disappointing. It is politically irresponsible.

For someone whose political brand is built on justice and national renewal, Kamto’s action sends a conflicting message. It is hard to decry the dysfunction of the opposition while refusing to take steps to fix it. It is hard to fight for the people while leaving them without guidance in their hour of need.

Supporters often cite Kamto’s legal background, his statesmanship and his vision as reasons to trust his judgment. But history judges leaders not just by what they say but what they do, especially when the stakes are high.

In months and years to come, Kamto will be forced to deal with the possibility that his legacy may be defined not by the battles he fought but by the one he chose to avoid.

This is not to say Kamto had an easy task. Endorsing a candidate in a competitive and ideologically diverse opposition carries risks. But leadership is about risk. It is about humility. It is about being able to demonstrate that even if he is not the one leading the charge against a crumbling goverment, the movement must go on.

Instead, Kamto has chosen to demonstrate a strange indifference the people’s wish while casting blame on others for failing to unite. This paints a picture of a man more interested in being the face of change than in actually triggering it.

Cameroon stands at the crossroads. This election could be a defining moment in the country’s democratic evolution. But progress will not come through rhetoric alone. It requires action, compromise and, above all, unity.

In refusing to endorse a candidate, Kamto has not just missed an opportunity to occupy a strategic position in the country’s political history, but has also proven to the people that their political interest is paramount.

He has actively undermined the opposition’s best shot at unseating a decades-old regime. His neutrality has sown confusion among voters and emboldened the very regime he claims to oppose.

Ultimately, the burden of responsibility falls on all opposition leaders but disproportionately on those with the stature to influence outcomes.  Kamto had and still has a chance to help shape the future but that requires setting egos aside, abandoning the illusion of being the sole savior and stepping into the role history is offering him not necessarily as president but as a true patriot and unifier.

In a political climate where neutrality speaks louder than words, Kamto’s refusal to act is being interpreted rightly or wrongly as a betrayal of the movement he helped build.  Whether this is a tactical pause or a permanent abdication of responsibility, only time will tell. As the country marches toward October 12, one truth becomes increasingly clear.

In the face of injustice neutrality is not neutrality it is complicity.

For a man of Kamto’s standing, there is a high price to pay for neutrality.

By Ntam Charles Ngeh

As campaigning starts on Saturday for Cameroon’s presidential election, the nation is puzzling over the whereabouts of the lead candidate: its 92-year-old leader, Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state.

In power since 1982 and seeking an eighth term in office in the October 12 polls, Biya left the central African country on Sunday for a “private trip to Europe”, his office said, without elaborating.

Diplomatic sources said the leader, who is rarely seen in public, was in Geneva, his favourite destination for personal visits, with protesters camping outside the United Nations headquarters in the Swiss city on Friday to voice their anger at Biya.

The trip comes a week after his daughter Brenda called on Cameroonians not to vote for him, in a TikTok video that she later retracted.

A weeks-long trip to Switzerland by Biya last September had fuelled rumours of his death, forcing the government to issue a statement reassuring the public about his health.

This time, Biya appeared in good health in a video of his departure released by the presidency, showing him accompanied by his wife Chantal and three advisers.

But the president was absent on Thursday from his scheduled appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, instead represented by his foreign minister.

‘Illusion’ of health

Biya is set to contend for another seven-year term against 11 other candidates.

His RDPC party is rumoured to have scheduled a rally on Sunday in the northern city of Maroua.

The party has not confirmed how many events it will organise and whether Biya will participate.

He announced his candidacy on July 13 on X but has not directly addressed his fellow citizens since.

“Initially, there were rumours that the president himself was not very motivated to run again,” and that his aides pushed him to do so, said Arrey Elvis Ntui, senior analyst for the International Crisis Group.

David Kiwuwa, head of the School of International Studies at the University of Nottingham’s China campus, pointed to Biya’s age and health.

“The more he stays out of the public eye, the more he maintains the illusion that he is mentally and physically suited for the office,” Kiwuwa said.

The opposition, meanwhile, had failed to name a consensus candidate, Maurice Kamto, Biya’s top opponent and runner up in the 2018 election, said on Friday.

“Many Cameroonians are frustrated that the opposition, which has been trying for nearly 30 years to replace President Biya, is still unable at this stage to agree,” said Ntui.

Criticised by daughter

With the opposition divided, Biya is favourite to win the election — despite the recent embarrassment involving his daughter.

Late on September 17, Brenda Biya, a regular at the luxury InterContinental hotel in Geneva, published her shock video on TikTok, calling on voters to abandon her father.

It circulated widely before being deleted from her account, sparking a wave of reactions that prompted her to post an apology days later.

“I know nothing about politics. Don’t follow my advice,” she said in the follow-up video on September 21.

Brenda Biya has also faced legal troubles, having been convicted of defaming a Cameroonian-Nigerian artist who accused her of insults and lies on social media.

The judgement noted that her family “frequently stays at the InterContinental Hotel in Geneva, where rooms are rented year-round”.

A 2018 investigation of economic crime by a consortium of journalists found Paul Biya had spent some 4.5 years of his presidency abroad, largely in Switzerland, at an estimated cost of $65 million.

‘Re-elected by default’

Protesters against Biya’s latest stay in Switzerland heeded a call by an association of Cameroonians in Europe Friday to rally in front of the UN headquarters in Geneva, chanting “Biya murderer” in the pouring rain.

The demonstration was initially organised to denounce opposition leader Kamto’s barring from the presidential ballot, but took on a new dimension.

Laurent, who came from Frankfurt in Germany to attend the protest, told AFP he was angry at Kamto’s rejection and Biya’s absence from the campaign trail.

“We’re getting the impression that the election is already stitched-up and that Paul Biya will be re-elected by default,” he said.

Diosky Moresmo, spokesperson for a Cameroonian diaspora association in Belgium, told AFP the protest wanted “to chase Paul Biya out of Europe”, criticising the president for spending the “the money of the Cameroonian people”, who have “no water, no electricity, no hospitals”, on the visits.

Nearly a quarter of Cameroon’s population lives under the poverty line, according to the World Bank.

“Every day, Cameroonians die,” the protest group said.

“How can he rest peacefully in Geneva, at taxpayers’ expense, while his people suffer?”

Culled from AFP

With weeks to go until an election that could extend the world’s oldest president’s 43 years in power, Cameroon‘s opposition is struggling. Its most popular figure has been barred from running, and the 11 candidates remaining are likely to divide the vote.

At 92, Paul Biya has spent nearly half his years on earth as president and is Africa’s second-longest serving leader, behind only Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. If he wins an eighth seven-year term in the Oct. 12 vote, he could govern until he’s nearly 100.

During his decades in power, the Central African nation of nearly 30 million people has struggled with challenges from a deadly secessionist movement to chronic corruption that has stifled development despite rich natural resources like oil and minerals. At least 43% of the country’s citizens live in poverty as measured by core living standards such as income, education and health, according to U.N. estimates.

Biya is rarely seen in public and critics say his capacity to govern has been severely limited by his age.

Still, he’s likely to prevail over the 11 other candidates in the race, especially after Biya’s most threatening rival, Maurice Kamto, was barred from running. Katmo ran against Biya in 2018 and won 14% of the vote.

The election commission said it disqualified Kamto from the race because the African Movement for New Independence and Democracy party that sponsored him was also sponsoring another candidate. Kamto’s lawyers and the party’s president denied the claim, calling the decision politically motivated.

Most of Cameroon’s past elections have faced questions of credibility, with election authorities often accused of working in favor of Biya. Some of the election officers previously served in other roles in Biya’s government. A two-term presidential limit was removed through a parliamentary vote in 2008.

In the nation’s capital, Yaounde, Elvis Nghobo, a food vendor, said the election has ended even before it started. “It is needless voting when it is clear that Paul Biya will always be declared winner,” said Nghobo, 34.

Still, a united opposition could have a chance to defeat Biya, analysts say.

The opposition is divided

After a record 83 candidates applied to run, election authorities approved 12, including Biya, to appear on the ballot.

All 11 opposition candidates agree on the need to unite behind a single leader, but they’re struggling to agree on who that should be, with formal campaigning due to start on Sept. 27..

In a recent post on X, Kamto likened the election to a penalty shootout in a soccer match and urged the candidates to find the best kicker.

“Choose from among yourselves, or at least from among the most experienced, the kicker who has the best chance of scoring the liberating goal,” Kamto said.

Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a long-time Biya ally who quit his government post earlier this year to run in the election, was designated as a consensus candidate by the Union for Change 2025, an alliance of at least 20 political parties and several civil society groups.

However, the other candidates have so far either rebuffed or ignored the move.

“We have only one objective: To liberate Cameroon from the system that has strangled it for more than 40 years,” Bakary said at the time.

Tomaino Ndam Njoya, a mayor and only woman in the race, said in a recent statement that she is open to backing a consensus candidate. That would be “the price to pay to finally offer the Cameroonian people the change they expect and deserve,” she said.

Analysts say the opposition is still weak

The candidates appear to be more concerned with “individual political survival than with driving meaningful collective change,” said Munjah Vitalis Fagha, a senior politics lecturer at Cameroon’s University of Buea.

The lack of a key challenger for Biya shows how weak the opposition has been over the years in Cameroon, said Wilson Tamfuh, professor of public and international law at Cameroon’s University of Dschang.

“There would be no need for an opposition consensus if an opposition party had become strong enough in its own right to overcome the ruling party,” Tamfuh said.

Source: AP

The president’s only daughter published a video on social media on Thursday in which she appealed to voters and told them to not cast their ballot for her father in the upcoming presidential election.

Paul Biya, incumbent president of Cameroon, might have not imagined his campaign for his planned seventh re-election as president to take such a turn. The reason? His only daughter, Brenda Biya, called for Cameroon’s population to not vote for her father in a video published on her TikTok account on Thursday.

In the video, which the 27-year-old was taken in Switzerland, Brenda Biya said that she would “cut” all contact with her parents and said that her family had mistreated her, as well as people close to her “wanting her dead”.

She then pivoted to politics, saying that she would not “vote for Paul Biya” and that she “hoped there would be another president”.

The video has gone viral and has been welcomed by the political opposition. No known official reaction has come from the presidency or the government.

Brenda Biya previously caused controversy with other videos on several occasions, notably showing herself dancing and also through a video published last year announcing her homosexuality, a sexual orientation which is deeply frowned upon on Cameroon.

Source: Africa News