Seven straight complete terms. Four decades in power. And he’s not done yet. Paul Biya, Cameroon’s long-time president, has just begun a new term, one that could keep him in office until age 99.
At 92, Biya is the world’s oldest president, and only a few leaders have had his longevity in power. So, how has he done it?
‘’He’s very smart, especially when it comes to politics. He knows very well how to handle the game,’’ Dr Therence Atabong Njuafac, a political analyst in Cameroon told TRT Afrika.
It’s game he’s played for more than four decades. Back in 1982, Biya was a little-known politician when Cameroon’s first President Ahmadou Ahidjo suddenly resigned.
Biya stepped in and never stepped out. He’s survived several coup attempts, outmaneuvered rivals, and quelled a separatist movement in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon.
Centralisation of power
‘’No matter your cries, he always has solutions to your problem,’’ Njuafac said.
According to Ahmadou Shehou Orges, Paul Biya’s powerful strategy is putting key government institutions under his watch with his allies in charge.
‘’Centralisation of power that is what he has done to stay in power. Most important sectors in the country are under Biya. The Constitutional Council, everything all answerable to him,’’ Shehou Orges told TRT Afrika.
And when a constitutional change in 2008 scrapped term limits, that sealed the deal. Biya could rule for life.
‘’So there is no limitation. No mandate limitation for the president, parliamentarians, or officials. They can stay, they can rule as they want… for life,’’ Shehou Orges said.
As Biya begins his 8th term, the main opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary and his supporters continue to challenge the president’s victory in the 12 October elections.
Weakened opposition
Biya’s rule is often compared to a chess game slow, strategic, and patient. His supporters say he has kept Cameroon stable in a volatile region. But critics say his brand of “stability” has come at a cost for democratic space. Opposition voices are often muted or weakened.
‘’This idea of multipartism is a strategy to divide the opposition. That’s one of the smartest ways Biya has stayed in power,’’ Njuafac said.
Born in 1933 to missionary parents in southern Cameroon, Biya once dreamed of becoming a priest. Instead, he studied law and politics in Paris and found his true calling in power.
Now, as he begins yet another term, all eyes are once again on Cameroon and on the man who has controlled the political chessboard for over 40 years. In the world’s oldest presidency, every move counts.
