Politics

8, September 2025

The Roman Catholic Church is concerned about a new term for Paul Biya ⁰

As an important presidential election is approaching in Cameroon, scheduled for October 2025, Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala has just published a sixteen-page pastoral letter in which he provides a damning assessment of the situation in his country. This situation has been exacerbated by the candidacy of the current head of state, Paul Biya, the ailing, 92-year-old candidate for re-election.

Samuel Kleda does not mince words: the archbishop regularly denounces the “moral depravity” in his country. In the letter, distributed and read in the parishes of his diocese on August 8, he speaks of “a society shaken by multiple ills that afflict all social strata.” He attributes the widespread malaise, which is fueling growing discontent in the run-up to elections, to “anti-evangelical acts” deeply rooted in the country’s governance.

These ills include governance marked by corruption, a perverted democracy, endemic poverty and unemployment, illegal immigration, a crumbling road network, difficult access to drinking water and electricity, opaque management of oil resources, injustices in the mining sector, and security crises in the English-speaking regions and the Far North. These scourges pervert the relationship between citizens and their leaders, leading to abuses of power and injustices.

The Archbishop also deplores a socially unbalanced economy, where the country’s wealth is diverted to finance the lavish lifestyles of an elite, while the majority of the population lives in poverty: “The country’s natural resources are plundered to enrich a minority, while the majority of citizens suffer from hunger,” he writes. This situation creates a gaping gap between the rich, who are increasingly prosperous, and the poor, who are increasingly deprived.

But the Archbishop of Douala also does not spare Cameroon’s democratic system, which he describes as “corrupt.” He denounces a political system marked by institutional violence, intimidation, and lies: “A democracy where political actors are despised, brutalized, and imprisoned is doomed to failure,” he asserts.

The exodus of young people is described as a “brain drain.” Bishop Kleda notes that, faced with the lack of hope for a better future, thousands of young people are leaving the country, sometimes risking their lives, in search of better employment, living, and educational conditions abroad. “This flight deprives Cameroon of its young talents, scientists, engineers, and health professionals, to the benefit of countries offering better opportunities,” he laments. This phenomenon, he believes, seriously compromises the nation’s future.

The Archbishop also highlights the security crises tearing the country apart. In the English-speaking regions, where a secessionist conflict that began in 2016 has already caused more than 6,500 deaths and displaced 800,000 people, he condemns both the atrocities committed by the separatists—assassinations, assaults, and kidnappings—and the brutality of the army, which “razes entire villages on mere suspicion.”

In the Far North, attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram are sowing terror and devastation. Faced with these dramatic situations, Archbishop Kleda urges the government to redouble its efforts to restore peace in all regions affected by these crises.

As the presidential election approaches on October 12, 2025, Kleda appears to be suggesting that Cameroonians mobilize for a change in governance: “Choosing a president of the Republic is a civic duty that falls to each of us and will shape the future of our country,” he declared.

Kleda’s remarks sparked strong reactions, particularly from those close to President Paul Biya, who has been in power since 1982 and is running for an eighth consecutive term at the age of 92. Professor Owona Nguini, an ally of the president, accused the archbishop of meddling in politics: “The bishop has strayed from his priestly mission to engage in partisan politics,” he declared.

Despite the gravity of the situation, Archbishop Kleda concluded on a note of hope, inviting Cameroonians to unite in prayer: “On the eve of the presidential election, 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 of us,” he wrote.

It is a peace and social cohesion that is at risk of being undermined as the October 2025 election draws closer.

Source: Crux

6, September 2025

Elecam calls on presidential candidates to name vote counting reps ⁰

The President of the Electoral Council of Elections Cameroon (Elecam), Enow Abrams Egbe, has called on candidates for the October 12, 2025, presidential election to appoint their representatives to the National Commission for the Final Counting of Votes (CNRGV). In a press release issued on Thursday, September 4, Elecam stated that this request is in accordance with Article 68 of the Electoral Code. Candidates are urged to submit the nomination documents for their representatives “as soon as possible” to allow for the official confirmation of the commission’s composition.

The National Commission for the Final Counting of Votes a central role in the electoral process. It is comprised of a member of the Constitutional Council who serves as president, two magistrates, five representatives from the administration, five representatives from Elecam, and a representative for each candidate or political party. According to electoral law, the commission is responsible for the general tally of votes, based on official reports and supporting documents sent by the departmental supervisory commissions. It is also authorized to “correct” any clerical errors in the vote count but cannot invalidate the corresponding reports. The commission prepares an official report of all its operations, signed by the president and members present. A copy of this report, along with supporting documents, must be submitted to the Constitutional Council within five days.

Thirteen candidates are vying for the presidency this year. Among them is the incumbent head of state, Paul Biya of the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), who is seeking another term. He will face several well-known opposition figures, including Joshua Osih of the Social Democratic Front (SDF) and Cabral Libii of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), both running for the second time. A female candidate, Patricia Tomaino Ndam Njoya, president of the Cameroon Democratic Union (CDU), is also in the race.

Source: Business in Cameroon

2, September 2025

UN raises fears over Cameroon election ⁰

The United Nations on Tuesday said growing restrictions in Cameroon raised fears about whether voters can freely choose their candidate in upcoming presidential elections.

Cameroon’s veteran President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state at 92, is seeking a new seven-year term to extend his nearly 43 years in power in elections on October 12.

“A safe and enabling human rights environment is essential for peaceful, inclusive, and credible elections. It regrettably appears that this is not the case in Cameroon,” said UN rights chief Volker Turk.

He urged the government to take swift action to ensure an environment conducive to a free, transparent election.

Last month, Cameroonian security forces arrested at least 53 opposition supporters, who were accused of public disorder, unlawful assembly, rebellion and incitement to revolt, the UN rights office said in a statement.

“While it is welcome news that all the 53 opposition supporters have since been released, they simply should not have been arrested in the first place. No one should ever be arrested for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly,” Turk said.

Cameroon’s divided opposition is struggling to challenge Biya, who has been accused by rights groups of suppressing political rivals.

Source: AP

28, August 2025

Bafoussam: Bishop Lontsié-Keuné puts government on red alert ahead of election ⁰

Bishop Paul Lontsié-Keuné, who has been a lightning rod for pro-democratic forces in Cameroon, has once again put the government on red alert, saying that he is ready to die for the truth.

The bishop of Bafoussam, known for his acerbic critique of the Biya government, blasted the authorities for continued intimidation of citizens as a presidential election scheduled for October 12 approaches.

President Paul Biya, 92, has been in power since 1982 and is seeking an 8th term in office.

Government officials have threatened severe retaliation against critics of Biya. Minister of Territorial Administration Paul Atanga Nji has repeatedly vowed to crush those “threatening public peace” with the same brutality as ingredients in a blender.

While the president’s extended tenure, advanced age, and declining health have drawn opposition and Church criticism, Lontsié-Keuné has voiced deeper concerns about Cameroon’s political process itself. The bishop has specifically condemned the exclusion of Maurice Kamto — Biya’s most formidable rival and the opposition leader who continues to claim victory in the 2018 presidential election — from the October 12 poll.

He has also taken issue at the violation of the electoral calendar through postponement of legislative and local elections to 2026, and criticized the deployment of security forces at major city intersections following the publication of the final candidate list. The bishop has also been at odds with restrictions on public freedoms and the surge in tribalism and hate speech.

“All these behaviors and events observed on the eve of the presidential election do not promote peace,” he said.

He said peace “cannot be achieved through lies, manipulation, intimidation, fear, denial of rights, injustice, corruption, the buying of consciences, the exploitation of the law and its variable interpretation for political ends.”

As if anticipating that his critical utterances against government’s electoral malpractices could eventually land him in trouble, Lontsié-Keuné said he is ready to pay the ultimate price.

“So if there is only one person to be killed, let them kill me and leave you, the people of God alone,” the bishop said at Mass on Sunday.

“And if there is only one person to be imprisoned, let them imprison me and leave you alone,” he added, and urged prisoners to welcome him “as a brother” because he has always had their back in freedom.

The bishop noted that suffering for the Christian is just part of carrying the Cross, reminiscent of the price Christ paid for the sins of man.

“The disciple is not greater than his master,” he said.

“We are disciples of a crucified Christ. But that’s not all. He is crucified, he is dead, he is risen again,” Lontsié-Keuné said, to thunderous applause from the Christians.

The bishop’s continued bashing of the Biya regime has also given his priests the courage to speak out against what they see as evil in society.

“Human life no longer has any value; it is cheap, trampled underfoot,” said Father Philype Kahake of the Saint Robert Parish in the Bamengouem Airport.

“Dignity is being flouted. Do we respect it? God says thou shalt not kill. To those who govern us, we say: thou shalt not kill. It is not the people who have the weapons; it is those who govern us who have the weapons. When someone dies because they have been shot, it means that it was not the people who shot them,” the priest said.

He denounced the reign of injustice and condemned what he called blind leadership at the helm of the state.

“The situation is clear. We are at an impasse in our country. Everyone is crying, everyone is shouting. Why? Why this stagnation? Why? Why all this crying? Why are families not thriving? Well, because whether it is those who command us, whether it is family heads, whether it is anyone, no one obeys anything anymore, as we can see in our country, starting at the top. We say that the good example comes from above, but [in Cameroon today] the bad example is coming from above,” Kahake said.

A call to vote

Despite the seeming irregularities in the electoral process, Lontsié-Keuné urged Christians to vote massively in the October poll.

“By voting, refuse to sell your conscience, whatever the proposed price,” he cautioned.

“No one must, at any stage of the process, change the value of the vote of a single citizen,” he said.

Amid the growing pre-electoral tensions, the President of the National Episcopal Conference has urged Cameroonians to be peaceful before, during and after the Presidential election.

In an interview with Crux, Archbishop Andrew Nkea Fuanya of Bamenda said that the Church will be working endlessly to ensure that the process is peaceful and just, even as he distanced the Church from partisan politics.

“Although we maintain our neutrality when it comes to partisan politics, we are going to deploy election observers in all the polling stations in our ecclesiastical province to have a feel of what Cameroonians will go through in these elections and be able to make an evaluation after,” he told said.

“We are working on how our justice and peace institutions, our justice and peace offices, can act as election monitors, election observers in all the dioceses of this ecclesiastical province,” Nkea told Crux.

He said the Justice and Peace Commission of the Cameroon Bishops’ Conference is already planning a seminar at the national level where “we are going to draw our election officers from all over the country to come for a formation session so that they are able to understand how to observe and how to report after observing elections.”

Source: Crux

26, August 2025

The Griot at the Gate: A Rebuttal to Ashu Nyenty on Akere Muna’s Petition ⁰

Quite predictably, the Constitutional Council missed another manifest rendezvous with history after it rejected the petition by Barrister Akere Muna, seeking the disqualification of the 93-year-old Paul Biya from contesting the upcoming presidential election. Akere Muna, anti-graft crusader, eminent jurist, former Bar Council and Pan-African Lawyers Union (PALU) president; and presidential candidate in the October 2025 election, had asked the Constitutional Council to declare Paul Biya ineligible to run. Citing Article 118 of the electoral code, Akere’s argument was simple but devastating: nemo dat quod non habet – one cannot give what one does not have – a president who has become a ghost, absent for weeks abroad, ruling through “high instructions” relayed by unelected proxies, incapable of fulfilling his constitutional duties, lacks the requisite capacity to credibly seek re-election. This was not merely legal reasoning but a moral imperative to prevent the grotesque spectacle of a nation held hostage by a phantom ruler, hell-bent on dragging Cameroon to his grave. That the petition foundered at the Constitutional Council is beside the point. That much was expected from a captive institution that has transformed itself into a spineless, uncircumcised appendage of the ossified regime.

Akere’s petition had sought to rescue Cameroon and restore sanity to a nation drowning in absurdity and international ridicule – a nation where fawning sycophants pledge their support to a picture running for president! Akere spoke truth to power with courage. And for that, he stands not alone, but with every patriotic Cameroonian who dares to still dream of a country worthy of its name. Of course, such patriotic Cameroonians will not include Dr. Theodore Ashu Nyenty, aka “Teddy Boy” who saw in Akere’s petition, an opportunity to showcase his obsequious boot-licking credentials and endear himself to the corridors of power. In a rambling critique of Akere’s petition, Ashu Nyenty was contortionist, twisting law and logic until they collapse beneath the weight of their own contradictions. He begins with a semblance of intellectual honesty and rigor – he admits Akere has locus standi, and concedes the Constitutional Council has jurisdiction. Yet, he dismisses Akere’s argument of “shadow governance” as “specious.” He argues that no statute limits presidential travel, and scoffs at Biya’s prolonged absences. He contends that delegation of powers is constitutional, and sneers at Akere’s appeal to the mischief rule as “hocus pocus,” as though interpretation were not the lifeblood of jurisprudence. His rhetoric is not that of a jurist but that of a griot, skilled not in law but in the art of gilding decay with pedanticism.

Dr. Ashu Nyenty – The Scholar as Griot

Ashu Nyenty’s analysis reads less like a serious juristic dissection and more like the rhythmic panegyric of a palace griot, dutifully plucking the strings of sophistry to serenade a crumbling autocratic regime on life support. Cloaked in the verbosity of academia and the pretensions of legal rigor, his jibberage is nothing more than an obtuse and dim-witted justification for the continued desecration of Cameroon’s democratic conscience by a 93-year-old incumbent whose advanced age, health comorbidities and failing faculties, now stand as a national embarrassment and international disgrace. This incantation at the altar of power is self-centered pedestrianism. Consider Ashu Nyenty’s core arguments:

Come to Equity with Clean Hands: Ashu Nyenty argues that Akere lacks “clean hands” because he accepted to run in an election convened by the same “ghost president” whose incapacity he denounces. This is sophistry in extremis. Akere’s participation is strategic engagement, not complacence. The act of running under a phantom decree is not a ringing endorsement of its legitimacy but a courageous defiance of a broken system. One cannot on one hand acknowledge that Paul Biya has been an absentee president; that Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh effectively runs the country by proxy, and then on the other hand insist that this is constitutionally pristine. That is not law – it is griotic gymnastics, the kind of intellectual prestidigitation one expects from court jesters, not legal scholars or public intellectuals.

On Biya’s Prolonged Absences: Ashu Nyenty insists no law restricts presidential travel. True, but constitutional logic must consider ratio legis. While no law prescribes travel limit, the constitution presupposes presence, vigilance, and personal exercise of executive power. Data from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project reveal Biya spent at least 5.5 years abroad between 1982- 2018. To claim this comports with constitutional fidelity is to reduce the presidency to an absentee landlordship – an absurdity reductio ad absurdum exposes as untenable. Law is not blind to reason; cessante ratione legis, cessat et ipsa lex—when the reason for the law ceases, the law itself collapses. This is a literalist refuge that offends both logic and justice because Summum jus, summa injuria – strict law applied rigidly may become the greatest injustice. To aver the contrary is to mock the very essence of democratic accountability.

On Governance by Proxy: Ashu Nyenty conflates limited statutory delegation with permanent abdication. He appeals to Article 10(2) of the 1996 Constitution, arguing delegation of presidential authority is permissible. But delegation, by nature, presumes temporary necessity, not permanent abdication. Delegata potestas non potest delegari – delegated authority cannot be re-delegated ad infinitum. Delegation of authority assumes the principal retains ultimate agency. Biya does not. His “high instructions” are scripted whispers, his decrees the product of proxies who wield his signature like a ventriloquist’s dummy. Delegation cannot substitute leadership itself; it was conceived as an occasional necessity, not as the architecture of a phantom presidency. The framers of the constitution never intended delegation of authority to ossify into governance by unelected proxies. To defend this perversion and normalize this absurdity is to legitimize the grotesque.

On the Mischief Rule: Ashu Nyenty sneers at Akere’s invocation of the mischief rule as “hocus pocus.” Yet if ever there was mischief crying out for judicial remedy, the mischief here is glaring: a president too enfeebled to govern has reduced national sovereignty to the whims of unelected groveling courtiers. Ubi jus ibi remedium-where there is a right, there must be a remedy. If interpretation cannot address this absurdity, then law itself becomes an accomplice to tyranny and dictatorship. To dismiss Akere’s interpretation of Mischief rule as “hocus pocus” is to strip law of its teleological essence and its very purpose. For Ashu Nyenty to pretend otherwise is not ignorance – it is intellectual self-masturbation.

On Hierarchy of Norms: Ashu Nyenty retreats to the hierarchy of norms to shield Biya, claiming the Constitution trumps the electoral code. But the electoral code is not peripheral – it operationalizes constitutional norms. And this is precisely the point Akere’s petition presses: when the spirit of the Constitution is violated by a president who has effectively abdicated his duties to unelected proxies, the electoral code must be invoked to rescue the nation from becoming a geriatric monarchy. The principle lex non cogit ad impossibilia (the law does not compel the impossible) invites purposive interpretation: candidacy implicitly requires functional capacity. Cameroonians cannot be compelled to accept governance by a phantom. A system that tolerates a nonagenarian absentee candidate seeking an eighth term is not law – it is organized national suicide.

The Griot’s Betrayal

There is, in truth, nothing new in Ashu Nyenty’s performance. Cameroon has always had its chorus of intellectual boot-lickers willing to play the griot for the palace. At bottom, Ashu Nyenty performs the ancient role of griot – singing praises before the palace gate, perfuming decay with pseudo-juristic incense, and rationalizing the tyranny of an aging monarch he dares not name unfit. Let’s be very clear: Biya is no longer fit to govern. His age has hollowed his body. His prolonged absences, government by remote control, his visible mental and physical decline betray his incapacity. His governance by proxy, through the perpetual “high instructions” of Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, have transformed the highest office in the land into a grotesque parody of leadership. A nation cannot be ruled by a ghost president. This is not governance; it is political necromancy – governance of the living by an absentee mummified despot. All Cameroonian, except those blinded by self-interests, will agree that Biya is showing more wear and tear in the form of his creeping baldness, his wrinkled carbuncular face; the declining swagger of his gait; the deterioration in his husky voice, the diapers, uncontrollable flatulence, and protracted anal blasts. At 93, Biya cuts the figure of a frail, distracted relic, more object of pity than leader. And yet Ashu Nyenty dares to call this normal, lawful, even constitutional. Cameroon deserves better.

Akere’s petition was not only legally sound; it was morally urgent – salus populi suprema lex esto: the welfare of the people shall be the supreme law. The petition is not “legal brigandage” (to borrow Ashu Nyenty’s clumsy expression); it is a necessary moral intervention against the ongoing abuse of an inebriated nonagenarian held captive by a cabal of unelected political jobbers. Ashu Nyenty’s analysis is a sycophantic prostitution of law; the choreography of a man who has exchanged his critical faculties for the baubles of proximity to power. He seems a man too enamored with servitude. He calls Akere’s arguments “legal masturbation.” Yet it is he who engages in intellectual self-masturbation. The pitiful spectacle of Dr. Ashu Nyenty, parading his academic credentials like a griot’s kora, plucking sophistries in defense of a decrepit system is shameful, pathetic, disgraceful and devoid of any perfunctory exaggeration. Cameroon does not need spineless charlatans and court jesters serenading a ghost president. It needs men of character with the courage of their convictions. The tragedy is not merely Biya’s refusal to relinquish office, but the complicity of intellectual griots and sycophants, who, in the twilight of his reign, chose to sing lullabies to tyranny, instead of sounding the alarm for liberty. Ashu Nyenty’s commentary is law in service of power rather than justice. Jurists should uphold fiat justitia ruat caelum – justice even if the heavens fall.

By Ekinneh Agbaw-Ebai

21, August 2025

Cameroon and France: Telling the necessary truth ⁰

This was arguably the most glaring “memory gap” in French colonial history. Between 1955 and 1970, France waged war in Cameroon against independence and later opposition movements, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands and helping to install an authoritarian regime loyal to Paris. The silence that surrounded this “dirty war” was both an insult to the victims and a historical failure, as well as a major unspoken issue in relations between the two countries.

This is why we should welcome the move by French President Emmanuel Macron who, in a letter to his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya made public on August 12, acknowledged that a “war” had been waged in Cameroon by “the colonial authorities and the French army,” and stated that he acknowledged “France’s role and responsibility.”

It took many years before the reality of this brutal “pacification” carried out in secret, but long well-documented by writers, journalists and historians, was officially recognized. The “counter-revolutionary warfare” techniques first tested in Indochina and then in Algeria – destruction of villages, assaults on unarmed civilians, forced regroupment camps, torture, targeted assassinations – were used against supporters of the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC, a pro-independence party) and to crush the uprising of the Bamileke people. By delegating repression to local actors, France turned a colonial conflict into a civil war.

Macron’s initiative began in 2022 with the creation of a commission of French and Cameroonian historians tasked with “shedding light” on this chapter of history. The report from this commission, delivered in January 2025, found that the violence in Cameroon “transgressed human rights and the laws of war.”

While President François Hollande had merely referred in 2015 to “particularly violent repression,” Macron acknowledged, as the commission suggested, that France fought a true “war” in Cameroon. The president is thus continuing the necessary process of truth-telling that, from the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda to the Algerian War, must fill the gaps of amnesia – and even lies – that still weigh on French society and diplomacy, without any notion of “repentance.”

Of course, his gesture remains incomplete – the “violations of human rights” are not clearly defined – and ambiguous in form: It came as a letter addressed to Biya, who is himself the heir to autocrat Ahmadou Ahidjo (installed by France in 1960) and has ruled the country since 1982.

This is where the particular sensitivity of Macron’s attempted truth-telling operation regarding Cameroon lies. The “decolonization war” did not end with independence; Paris continued to repress opponents of the regime that had been put in place. Forgotten in France, this endless war continues to poison the political and social climate in Cameroon. As the end of Biya’s reign approaches – despite being 92 years old, he plans to seek an eighth presidential term in October – and as the demand for historical truth is stirring throughout Francophone Africa, it is time to put an end to the unspoken truths between France and Cameroon.

Source: Le Monde

19, August 2025

When portraits rule: The presidency becomes a shrine! ⁰

Ah! What a grand spectacle of democracy turned into pilgrimage, where citizens no longer travel to Jerusalem or Mecca, but to Etoudi—armed not with rosaries or Qur’ans, but with envelopes of pledges and pockets emptied of 5 to10K contributions. The Presidency has become a shrine, and Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh its high priest, who, like the Pope’s emissary, receives all delegations on behalf of the invisible God-King.

Here is the paradox: to meet the Head of State, one must never see the Head of State. His presence is too divine, too sacred, too holy for mortal eyes. Instead, portraits hang like sacred icons on the walls, absorbing prayers, oaths of allegiance, and the groveling of chiefs. Some even went further: dragging a lifesize statue as if Israel’s golden calf had found a rebirth in Yaoundé. Indeed, Biya is no longer a president; he has been canonized into an idol, an untouchable effigy, the Fon of Fons, the deity of marble and ink.

The absurdity glitters like a carnival: chiefs who once commanded warriors now parade as errand boys; student leaders and academics, who ought to grade truth and knowledge, now grade their own loyalty before the altar of the portrait; women examiners, included for “gender balance,” chant in chorus, proving that even equality can be prostituted to idolatry. And for this grand pilgrimage? Each member must pay their own offering—2,000 CFA—like indulgences in medieval Europe, except here it is not for salvation, but for a photo-op with a frame.

What greater hypocrisy! A regime so petrified of its own mortality that it hides behind paper portraits and lifeless statues, yet insists the nation believes the ghost still breathes, still rules, still reigns. The people are told: do not look for the man, only believe in the image. It is politics turned into a cargo cult—where the mere sight of a statue, a portrait, or a signature photocopied a hundred times is enough to summon the aura of authority.

If irony were oxygen, Cameroon would have long suffocated. For in this land, the living leader is absent, the absent leader is omnipresent, and the portrait of the absent leader rules more firmly than the man ever did.

So what’s the purpose of leaving all the way from Bamenda, Garoua etc to Yaoundé when you will still end up talking with a portrait? Millions of whose copies are available nationwide? Let the Chief priest save people the inconveniences by telling them to pledge loyalty at all district levels, just like local congregations worshipping the almighty God!

By Wepngong Moses

18, August 2025

Battle for Etoudi: ELECAM considers relocating polling stations ⁰

Elections Cameroon (Elecam), the country’s election body, is moving to change the locations of certain polling places after a formal request from a presidential candidate.

In an official message obtained by SBBC, Elecam Director-General Erik Essousse asked his ten regional delegates to “urgently submit proposals for changing the locations of polling stations, particularly those situated in police stations, traditional meeting huts, chiefdoms, and military barracks.”

The directive follows a complaint from Joshua Osih, the presidential candidate for the Social Democratic Front (SDF), who argued that 1,153 polling stations did not meet legal requirements for neutrality, accessibility, and security.

Osih stated that holding elections in military barracks or headquarters was “legally and materially unacceptable” because these are not neutral or civilian public spaces. He added that the presence of armed personnel and weapons at these sites violates a legal ban on weapons in polling stations.

In response, Elecam’s director-general set an August 16 deadline for regional delegates to propose new locations for the contested polling stations.

Source: Sbbc

18, August 2025

Race for the Unity Palace: Tchiroma dismisses party secretary amid tribal controversy ⁰

Jeanne Nsoga, the former secretary general of the Cameroon National Salvation Front (CNSF), has been expelled by its leader, Issa Tchiroma Bakary, just as he launches a presidential bid.

Nsoga, previously unknown to the public, gained attention in recent weeks for her frequent appearances alongside the former minister, who resigned from the government on June 24 to run for president. However, on Monday, August 11, Bakary permanently expelled her for “very serious misconduct.” The party declined to comment on the decision, with one close associate of Bakary only saying, “it’s a long story.“

Nsoga herself revealed the reason for her departure. In a resignation letter dated August 12 and addressed to the national party president, she stated she was leaving the CNSF because Bakary failed to support her against accusations of tribalism. These accusations came from supporters of Maurice Kamto, leader of the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (MRC), who was recently removed from the presidential race.

“After observing your attitude in the face of the cyber-harassment I am a victim of from Mr. Maurice Kamto’s supporters, who accuse me of tribalism – when you know that my fight is to demand the restitution of the lands of the indigenous communities, once seized by the militiamen of the Cameroon National Liberation Army (the armed wing of the UPC) – I have decided to inform you of my immediate resignation from the CNSF,” she wrote.

For several weeks, there had been growing calls for Nsoga’s expulsion as her previous remarks, deemed tribalist, resurfaced. Some observers believe her ousting is linked to a potential alliance between Bakary and Kamto, whose voting instructions are now highly sought after. Nsoga’s letter alludes to this possibility, stating, “The doubt that has set in me no longer allows me to walk alongside you or to disrupt with my presence the new alliances you might seal.”

This political maneuvering comes as opposition leaders intensify negotiations to nominate a single candidate against the incumbent president, who is seeking re-election. Several contenders still in the race are now courting Kamto, hoping to bring him into a coalition.

Source: Sbbc

14, August 2025

Côte d’ivoire: President Ouattara told to go to Cameroon to die in power ⁰

Ivorians who are calling on their president, Alassane Dranane Ouattara to step down after fifteen years in office, are urging him to go to Cameroon if he wants to die in power.

Carrying placards on August 9, 2025 in Abidjan and other cities where there were massive demonstrations against President Ouattara who has done very well economically but is still seeking a fourth term, demonstrators urged him to step down and even migrate to Cameroon where it is possible for a president to be in power for more than four decades.

In Côte d’Ivoire, it is known that Cameroonians lack the courage of their conviction and are incapable of taking down their president, Paul Biya, who is incompetent and development-averse.

Mr. Biya has been in power in the Central African country for 43 years and despite his age and declining health, he has announced that he will run in the October 12, 2025 presidential election.

Cameroonians who had vowed to take down the aging and ailing dictator have all chickened out following the country’s constitutional court’s rejection of the candidacy of the leading opposition leader, Maurice Kamto.

Many people had thought the masses would pour onto the streets to demonstrate against the government’s flagrant injustice but shortly after the constitutional council’s decision, many Cameroonians were instead seen rushing to bars and off-licenses as if they were rejoicing over Prof. Maurice Kamto’s elimination from the race.

Speaking to an irate Cameroonian after the constitutional council’s decision, the Cameroon Concord News correspondent in Yaoundé, Rita Akana, gathered that many Cameroonians were disappointed about the decision and that drinking alcohol was their ideal way of reducing their anger.

“Here in Cameroon, we drink when we are happy and we even drink more to calm down our temper when we are really angry. I know this is wrong but it is hard to change this mentality,” the irate opposition fan said.

“How possible is it for Cameroonians to think things through when there is alcohol? The Cameroonian has lost his courage and sense of direction because of alcohol and the government is aware of this,” he added.

“It is even rumored that the government will reduce the price of alcoholic beverages before the presidential election and this is designed to confuse the already confused Cameroonian. We drink on every occasion and this has really rendered us mentally and psychologically fragile. Until Cameroonians face their government head-on, they will never see the type of develop they all want,” he stressed.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai