How Paul Biya Has Lasted Over 40 Years in Power, and Might Stay Longer
The chosen one
Paul Biya’s rare public appearances, long holidays, and occasional witty remarks give the impression of a leisurely leader. But no one stays in power for 43 years, or 50 (he was prime minister for seven years before becoming president) by being carefree. Ahmadou Ahidjo, Cameroon’ first president, chose Biya to replace him when he stepped down in 1982. Today, Biya is 92.
Scarcity, by design or by inertia, amplifies the reverence Cameroonians feel towards the man, and in some circles, that actually works. There are Cameroonians who insist that the president is a good man, only compromised by the incompetent people he’s kept around him for well over a generation. If the road to your village is not tarred, then you must have missed your luck when your tribesman was minister of transport.
The elite
To groom candidates for appointments, an elite has emerged from each region with bitter rivalries between them and their followers as they compete for Biya’s attention. The elite, as they smugly call themselves, are the loudest voices in their local branches of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM).
This system has decentralized corruption while incorporating graft into the very fabric of Cameroonian life. Giver or taker, every Cameroonian understands the marketplace.
Cameroonians have occasionally pushed back through public protest, but this a government that doesn’t hesitate to make an example of those who go onto the streets. Politicians, journalists, and civil society leaders have been locked up and tortured, and some have paid the ultimate price, being killed or disappeared.
Cameroonians are also tired of turning up for elections with predictable results. Only half of the country’s 6 million registered voters participated in the 2018 elections in which Paul Biya ‘won’ by 70 percent. The parliament he controls scrapped term limits in 2008.
The people’s representatives
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a legal expert working in Cameroon’s court system, lists a number of incentives parliamentarians have to keep supporting the regime’s agenda.
“The majority are there not out of conviction. They’re there for a particular purpose, to speak the regime’s language. The regime gives them private and public contracts which they execute for their personal interest. That is why a majority of the bills that go to parliament go in and come out without any change.”
Biya appoints 30 of Cameroon’s 100 senators. He also selects the Constitutional Council judges that certify election results. If his party insiders somehow lose their primaries, they can leverage their political connections to undermine opponents. And when everything else fails, they can count on the benevolence of the chief to make them one of his 30 senate appointees. Both houses of parliament are led by party stalwarts.
So far, technicalities have been a feature of the upcoming 2025 presidential campaign. The Constitutional Council has declared itself incompetent to hear cases brought by opposition parties, like the Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM). The Constitutional Council, however, had no such misgivings when it declared the leading opposition candidate, and Biya’s main rival, Maurice Kamto, ineligible to run.
The fourth estate
Cameroon’s state broadcaster, CRTV, is firmly in Paul Biya’s grip. He appoints its director whose principal task is to ensure wall-to-wall coverage of his exploits. These exploits range from subjects as engaging as the president’s poise to foreign visits. They also include the official launch of long overdue infrastructure projects that feature his portrait, hands interlocked, smiling down at his people. Most times these people are only there because they will get an attendance fee and a free lunch.
CRTV was Cameroon’s main source of information for a long time after independence. Critics don’t get much airtime on national TV or radio— both of them are an extension of the government. They have also launched a new channel to provide 24-hour coverage of the presidency. Chief correspondent to the presidency, Ashu Nyenty, has emerged as the undisputed champion of this hagiographic script: “President Biya is a blessing to this country. This president is our greatest marksman. Those who meet President Paul Biya for the first time are awed and bow in reverence, in respect for his profound knowledge and civility.”
Independent media is growing and providing alternative arguments to the official narrative, but it’s a struggle against limited financing and state censorship. They are also not immune to the occasional tip from politicians trying to raise their profile.
In the grand scheme of political freedoms, Cameroon’s elections have become a steam-blowing, drama-filled spectacle intended to distract from the wholly flawed process.
The political opposition
Cameroon’s opposition has been in steady decline since the 1990s. Like the party they have struggled to unseat, they focus on the leader at the expense of party platform and grassroots mobilization. If the job of the opposition is to point out the wrongs of the ruling party, then the opposition has failed.
Today, most opposition parties in Cameroon are still led by their founders. And most are out of touch with young voters. Forming a grand coalition will be the biggest challenge in 2025, something they have never managed to accomplish since multi-party politics was introduced in 1990.
One opposition candidate, Akere Muna, has taken part in coalition talks for the 2025 presidential elections. As the former director of Transparency International, he has investigated corruption in Cameroon. He points to events in the past that need overhauling: “Since 1966, Cameroon has had a one-party system. Under the pressures of what was called the winds of the east, a lot of African countries decided to move from a one-party system to a multi-party system. That transition hasn’t been successful, according to Muna, “Most of the countries tried to adjust by maintaining the old system, see how they could accommodate the new aspirations of the citizens, and how they could even, by simple ruse trick, the citizens into believing that things were going to change. … We are in a system which is de facto a one-party, and the way the electoral law is tailored it makes it difficult for the opposition to win.” Muna says.
The governed
It’s hard to see the system changing without pressure from Cameroonian citizens. Dissent, according to the head of state, is allowed. But there’s a caveat. People must not come out on the streets. They must channel their grievances through structures that preserve national unity.
Cameroonians don’t have that time. They came out on the streets in 2008 to protest rising food prices and were brutally put down. Anglophone Cameroonians marched in 2016 to protest marginalization from the majority Francophone government and that has resulted in a prolonged war.
Oppression is easier to implement in a country like Cameroon because it is divided across regional, ethnic, and religious lines. There are still vocal critics of the system who risk their lives every day, but most of their voices have been drowned.
The only matter that everyone can seem to agree on is that the economy is getting worse, and that sweeping change is needed. “If all the opposition parties were to unite and bring to bear the kind of pressure that will defy any kind of rigging system put into place, that will cause the people to see that their voting is out of phase with the results proclaimed.” Muna hopes.
Looking ahead
Paul Biya has always found favor with the West, while also nurturing relationships with suitors from the East. This is because foreign governments, like the United States, favor stability and relationships with dictators instead of genuine alliances with the people. Such liaisons offer opportunities to fight terrorism and pursue both economic and more commercial interests.
Some of Paul Biya’s billboards from the 2018 elections have not been replaced. Personality cults work best on youthful looks, exactly why the chief radiates youthful confidence in the pictures displayed at the rallies he never attends. Biya has not actively campaigned for decades, but he has stuck to one promise: reforms will transform Cameroon into an emerging economy by 2035. He is currently running for his eighth consecutive term. And if, as he says every election cycle, the people call on him to serve, there might be a ninth.
Tony Vinyoh is a Cameroonian writer with numerous by-lines in a range of international and local media outlets, including for the BBC and Fodor’s Travel.
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of Vanguard Africa, the Vanguard Africa Foundation, or its staff.