A 92-year-old President who has never lost

To no surprise, the Constitutional Council of Cameroon, announced the re-election of the 92-year-old President Paul BIYA, the oldest head of state in the world, for the eighth consecutive term.

As a result of the main rumors and claims of victory by his main challenger, former Minister of State Esa Tchiroma Bakary, excitement and tension had been announced in Run. Hopes of a shock result were briefly raised.

As a result, although it was part of a long-term pattern, The official result, winning BIYA with 53.7%, ahead of Tchiloma Bakary at 35.2%, came to the disappointment and anti-climax of many communists.

Biya’s decision to stand for another seven-year term, after 43 years in power, was not at all controversial. Not only because of his longevity, but also because his style of governance has raised questions.

Extended stays abroad, staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva or other convenient locations around the Swiss city.

A year ago, after making a speech to the patient of the second world war in the south of France in August and going to the China conference in Beijing the following month, the President disappeared from the view of almost any situation about his life.

Even after senior officials appeared to show that he was there, in Geneva, it is reported that they are working as usual, there is no real news until the real announcement comes back home.

And this year it was no surprise when he heard another pre-election trip to Geneva on his schedule just a few weeks before polling day.

Biya’s incomparable style of national leadership, rarely calling formal meetings of the full cabinet or addressing complex issues, leaves a cloud of uncertainty about his administration’s intentions and government policy formulation.

At the technical level, skilled ministers and officials pursue various methods and programs. But the political vision and sense of direction was largely absent.

His regime has shown itself willing to protest or arrest vocal critics. But that is not the only or perhaps the most important thing that has kept him in power.

Because it must be said that the biya also fulfilled a different political role.

He has acted as a balance in what is a complex country, marked by great social, regional and linguistic differences – between, for example, the North and the West and the South-West, with their different educational and organizational cultures.

In the context of its first years of independence marked by debates on federalism and disagreements over the form of national unity that should take, he assembled governments that included representatives of various backgrounds.

Sometimes under pressure from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and international creditors, his administration has prevented a debt crisis and, in recent years, less and less national currencies.

Moreover, in the last ten years or so you have seen that Biya is seen more and more like a constitutional monarch, a symbolic figure who can decide a few important issues but leaves others to set lessons in many areas of policy.

And his continuation in this role has been renewed by rivalries among the top figures in Cameroon Camera’s Democratic Movement (CPDM). While there, the sequence does not have to be determined.

However, it does not have a chosen or elected political heir, and at some point the next CPDM figures itself begins to continue for many years, Biya’s appearance in the office has revived the Rumor Fill burning in succession.

Increasingly, the name of his son Franck is mentioned, although he shows little interest in politics or government.

Meanwhile, there is no shortage of development or security challenges for the President despite the diversity of Cameroon’s environmental conditions.

Could it be that today we are witnessing a decisive illness in the popular tolerance of BIYA’s version of the hard work of authoritative law?

Do Cameroonians care about a system that offers the election rhetoric of a majority party but little hope of actually changing their rulers?

Has the bloody crisis in the English-speaking regions revealed the limits of the president’s cautious and distant approach?

When protests demanding reform first broke out in 2016, BIYA was slow to respond. By the time he offered meaningful change and national dialogue, the momentum of violence had accelerated, filling the void for genuine compromise.

At the time, low key in style, he failed to really sell the vision of economic and social development of Cameroon or instill a sense of progress towards the goal.

Biya was already testing the limits of popular tolerance with his decision to stand for the seventh consecutive term in 2018.

But in the end he was able to face a controversial opposition challenge from Maurice Kamto, and when Kamto contested the official results with only 14 votes cast, he was imprisoned for more than eight months.

But this time, around, Thiroma’s okomuni changed the situation and the feeling that no previous challenge has ended, since 1992, when the official results have been proven by the vote, with 36% of the vote, just behind BIYA at 40%.

And this time it’s not just that BIYA is seven years old and has more hands than ever.

It is also that, unlike Kamto – who struggled to get very far in his address – Tchiloma, persetner, attracted support from a wide part of the angloon, especially including the two anglophone regions.

This other political prisoner recently crashed with Biya and accepted a posting in the ministry, he had the guts to go to bamenda, the biggest city in English, and apologize for his role in the government.

And in recent days, when the conflicts are growing to avoid the result of the announcement, Tchiloma wisely stayed in Garoua, his hometown in the north, where crowds of young supporters gathered to protect him from the danger of security forces.

Now, after the expectations have built up, there is a lot of frustration and anger among the supporters of the opposition over the official back, but it was expected to happen.

Security forces had reportedly fired on protesters in Douala, the Southern Port City which is an economic hub. And shooting has now been reported from garoua as well.

For Cameroon, Biya’s determination to protect the name of the eighth President has brought high risks and painful costs.

Paul Melly is a consulting fellow with the Africa program at Chatham House in London.

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