Paul Biya, a hated african despot

Paul Biya constitutionally succeeded the forced by the forces of darkness resigned Ahidjo as president in 1982.

 Even Ahidjo later then has regretted his choice of successors, but his supporters failed to overthrow Biya in a 1984 coup attempt. He has survived almost 1984, 1990 and 2002 coups attempt in cameroon.

Biya won single-candidate elections in 1984 and 1988 and flawed multiparty elections in 1992, 1997, and 2004.

His Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) party holds a sizable majority in the legislature following 2007 elections--153 deputies out of a total of 180.

Paul Biya  is empowered to name and dismiss cabinet members, judges, generals, regional governors, prefects, sub-prefects, and heads of Cameroon's parastatal (about 100 state-controlled) firms, obligate or disburse expenditures.

He has the dictatorship power to approve or veto regulations, declare states of emergency, and appropriate and spend profits of parastatal firms.

Paul Biya is  not required to consult the National Assembly according to the constitution and this has been ongoing since 1982.

And as a result the incumbent, Paul Biya, according to a secret report for the Us state department files was re-elected with 70.92% of the vote.

Nothing in fact has really changed in Cameroon even opposition leaders still acting like those who during night collude with the government. None of these opposition parties that joined the so called coalition government never resigned for the sake of the interest of their political party agenda.

 None. They are so just there to partake the Cameroonian cake with those corrupted members of Biya `s administration. 

For the next election,  U.S, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium. China, Japan and many more  Embassies present in Cameroon will   provide monitors for the  parliamentary, municipal and presidential elections and will concurre with the analysis of other observers and diplomatic missions, who have for a while and long time ago noted some improvements but persistent flaws, especially in the registration of voters and the prevention of voter fraud.

The government is hugely involved and present during the registration process of voters while some political parties are absent.

Thousands of Cameroonians are now more than ever fed-up with the corrupted government, and want change, the real change, even the outcome of the next presidential election is already known.

There will be no change and the risk will then be an instability and a social unrest. In Cameroon, there is a huge demand of change, improvements in living conditions as well as real political change.

The gap between poverty and wealth is still wide and no real effort has been made by the government to bring that change needed by thousands of Cameroonians.

 Unemployment is on the rise in Cameroon especially from the youth and the newly graduates from state universities and private as well..Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State has already in many occasions called on Paul Biya to respond swiftly and boldly to the legitimate needs of the people.

 A cabinet reshuffle after or before the presidential election will not longer be an option to respond to the legitimate needs of millions of Cameroonians.

Biya`s administration putting politics before growth, says GICAM

The government has put politics before economics, implemented initiatives for political reasons and been apparently careless of the damage that they might do to business and to job creation, according to the acting president of the Gicam, Groupement Interpatronal du Cameron, Olivier Behle..

He added that the government was not firing on all cylinders and for the last 6 months politics appear to have trumped economics on too many occasions. Department of industrial development, agriculture, youth and sport,  finance and the one in charge of job creation, the national fund for employment have not taken a hard look at the role creating jobs and growth in Cameroon.

The government is more likely to do the talking shop rather then to create jobs. The Gicam wants the government to be more of an action oriented growth champion now and less politics..

Talking about growth without acting really is not for the good of the economics, says the Gicam.

Because of the coming presidential election in Cameroon the government according to the Gicam has no real plan at the moment for growth and has even taken decisions for political reasons and this  doesn`t pleased the leaders group.

The Gicam has always supported government actions and also been part of the implementation of government economics plan for growth and now it is another sound.

By supporting government action they look first at the protection of their own business in case of trouble period. The International Monetary Fund expects global growth in 2011 to be just slightly slower than last year`s rate of 4.75% its deputy managing director said on Monday 24 February.

John Lipsky said that while the rate of growth was impressive, much of it was driven by emerging markets and Cameroon is not even yet listed as one of the emergent market just because Biya`s administration has done nothing to improve that situation. The private sector now has a non political obligation as well  to create that growth without the help of the government

Today Olivier warns that the country needs economics growth to sustain the politics, and only for that, they will support any government action to boost growth and job creation ahead of the presidential election, their position will serve to dissuade speculation and will the create indubitably jobs before the next crucial presidential election.

Paul Biya tightens grip on power amid calls to step down

Cameroon`s repressive regime will send in the next 10 months a dramatic message to the International community over its determination to face down any challenge to its authority.

October 2011, there will be a presidential election with Paul Biya as candidate. The formal opposition in Cameroon has been wipe out from the last parliamentary elections and left with fewer seats in the house of parliament.

The Cameroon People Democratic Movement, CPDM, the party that has the full majority in the parliament and that runs the country with a less power sharing with a small and insignificant group of coalition political parties will be dictating his way to others.

 It is still unclear whether there will be a kind of strong pressure on President Paul Biya after 28 years in power in Cameroon and with no designated successor at the moment, to embrace some democratisation.

They will do everything to show the world that the next presidential election will be fair and credible.

 Cameroon under Paul Biya now has joined the ranks of world`s most autocratic countries. Cameroon now is a dictatorship. The last parliamentary election was widely seen as a dry run for the next year`s presidential elections, when the 78 year old Biya might be forced to step down..

Paul Biya who is believed to hide a serious heart condition problem has ruled Cameroon for almost three decades and has remain a close ally for the west, despite reports of systematic human rights abuses at the hands of his extensive security apparatus, and slow progress on political reform..

As the end of the year is looming, attention will now turn to the regime insiders jockeying for position to replace Biya, and there is no name in the lead officially and the head of the armed forces could take over the  country.

It is a possibility at the moment just in case they have to retain a strong influence over the process of selecting Cameroon`s next president. The CPDM now is a divided political party with neoliberals, economic reformists, political reformists, modernists all powerless and Biya as a real the real master is still there, like a procrastinator.

Media crackdown in Cameroon

The government in Cameroon is intent on controlling all sources of alternative knowledge and information ahead of the presidential election and the machiavelllian Biya`s administration machine is now in intensive action...

Cameroon`s vibrant independent media sector has been dealt a series of blows in the run up to the next year critical and important presidential election, with some Tv stations ordered to shut down, if they do not obey the rule and the law, Radio Television Siantou forced to review his editorial position,

Alex Azebaze, Snjc


Equinox in Douala has seen some journalists sanctioned and moved from one desk to another and even sent on special assignment, 

Magic Fm intimidated with his daily critic political and satirical program, Radio Reine has received strange visitors when one of his popular political analysis program was on air and the journalist forced to rewrite some questions to be asked to panelists,

Jean Baptiste Sipa, former columnist and newly editor responsible for  Le Messager had his mobile phone taped, Alex Gustave Azebaze, now acting as the first secretary of the leading journalists trade union in Cameroon has his mobile phone taped and also has been summoned to the police after taking part in a talkshow on radio.

Jean Bosco Talla, editor of Germinal, was refused visa to attend an award ceremony in Geneva recently by the Switzerland Ambassy in cameroon,

critical talk shows hauled off air, outspoken columnists and editors forced out of their jobs and bribed to stay away for a while, and above all, a new regulations in secret talks between the communication minister Issa Tchiroma, and the security council chief executive Atanga Nji, will see bringing mass text messaging and live broadcasts firmly under state control.

Jean Bosco Talla, Germinal editor, recently released from prison after paying millions of Cfa francs, denied exit from Cameroon last month


  Live broadcasting will see a new regulations adopted and implemented straight away as a signal to those who use more and more international critical correspondents during their on live program..

Despite government assurances that in Cameroon with over 600 registered newspapers ( from the press for the freedom of expression in late 1990 entrance and move to the democracy period...) and 250 published yearly, hundreds of private radio station, freedom of expression will not be restricted as the country prepares to enter a 10 critical months period of intense political uncertainty.

In a damning report on government repression, Amnesty International said: " The pattern being established is one that is already familiar from previous elections, which were carried out amid serious human rights violations....." 

The  biggest journalists trade union and human rights activists and groups have already criticised that the so called climate of terror  created by the state. 

In this political uncertainty and social environment of terror, dissidents voices are going to be systematically excluded and silenced with all means by the state from public debate.

The Sdf aims to find 2.5 million missing voters

Up to 2.5 million potential voters are to be targeted by the Social Democratic Front ( SDF) as it seeks to ensure that the missing millions are struggling to register and have not yet exercised their right to vote are given a voice this time in next presidential and crucial election for Cameroon, John Fru Ndi told the media in France after the Socialist International council meeting.( 15-16 November 2010 in Paris).

John Fru NDI speaking today in France

In an attempt to reach out to critics, who question the chairman about the recurrence of the constants and mass resignations within the party ahead of the presidential election,

John Fru Ndi will then unveil plans to respond and also to increase voting in areas of high social deprivation and social discontent in Cameroon.

 John Fru Ndi will take time to explain and shed a light on the climate of suspicion which prevails in the party. He is expected to tell members of the party abroad, supporters and sympathisers of the Sdf `struggle and battle for fairness, democracy and  a new Cameroon with a new beginning without Biya,

 that his party with the help of international organisations such as the Socialist International, will attempt to locate missing voters  around the country by piloting a similar voting system of  registration and localisation and identification of voters.

 This will allow local sdf supervisors and election monitors to compare with local authorities information. The chairman said that, it is not good enough to simply ignore the millions who aren`t registered.

 Areas where local authorities are using intimidation methods to push away sdf members to even register and have their national identity card confiscated for not real reason...

The sdf with the international community help will work closely to reduce electoral fraud by being involved in the entire process of the registration and the publication of the electoral list.

According to government statistics ( Home Office or Territorial administration ministry) in 2009, about 12 million Cameroonians today are eligible to vote and the Cpdm all alone might have had 7 million potential voters and the rest is for others parties..

For him these missing millions must be given back their voices and choices in a fair, free and democratic election where there is no intimidation and hassle.

Cameroon is moving further away from democracy toward a totalitarian state

According to the US department of State, Cameroon is a state dominated by a strong presidency and backed by the leaders of armed forces and the Cameroon People  Democratic movement, that is in power since the creation in 1985. 

And this is the Cameroon that is going to have presidential election next year.The 2007 legislative and municipal elections had significant deficiencies in the electoral process, including barriers to registration and inadequate safeguards against fraudulent voting, according to international and domestic observers. 

Three years after that there is no change and things still the same. Opposition parties are struggling with the authorities  to register their members and to have even the ID card. Opposition leaders in Cameroon often face difficulties to hold public meetings. Authorities sometimes refused to grant permission to hold rallies and meetings.The most ridiculous thing in this is that, after 49 years, authorities in Cameroon are still afraid of the Southern Cameroon National Council.

Will Biya really want a power-sharing
 deal?



The government considered the SCNC illegal because it advocates secession and had never registered as a political party or organization.

During the year security forces primitively arrested approximately 102 leaders, members, and supporters of the SCNC to prevent them from participating in unauthorized political meetings.

For example, on February 23, security forces in Mutenguene, South West Region, arrested 25 SCNC activists gathered in the residence of one of their national leaders. Security forces later released them.

On March 21, Bamenda police, North West Region, arrested approximately 70 SCNC activists who were meeting to discuss the UN's demarcation of the Cameroon-Nigeria border. The police released them the following day without charges.

In accordance with provisions of the 2008 penal code, officials released, pending trial, individuals who were detained for participating in illegal gatherings of the SCNC.

During the year police put the houses of Southern Cameroons National Council (SCNC) officials and activists under surveillance, searched the houses of some SCNC leaders, and disrupted SCNC meetings in private residences.

In October, in response to a 2003 complaint filed by the SCNC, the African Union Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights acknowledged serious human rights violations committed

 by the government against secessionist anglophones, while at the same time dismissing anglophone secessionism.

An administrative authority may authorize police to conduct neighborhood sweeps without warrants.

Such sweeps at times involved forced entry into homes in search of suspected criminals or stolen or illegal goods. Security forces sometimes sealed off a neighborhood, systematically searched homes, arrested persons, sometimes arbitrarily, and seized suspicious or illegal articles.

In February and March security forces conducted street sweeps in the Douala neighborhoods of Akwa and Bonandjo and arrested dozens of suspects.

 While security forces subsequently released some, others were kept and transferred to the prosecutor's office on various charges including theft, aggression, and evasion. Some of the recovered stolen items included electronics and cell phones. And this would not stop now and will even worsening in the next coming months.

Youth in Cameroon, 13 years of disappointment from the CPDM

Young people in Cameroon today are growing up in an environment of increasing corruption in the public services and education. They are experiencing today mass unemployment and poverty.

For some, the only available alternative is to join the armed forces for the luckiest to secure their future or to try with a major risk of life wasted  the rough way of going on exile or on adventure in Europe.

 Having experienced 13 years of disappointment from the Cameroon People Democratic Movement, the main political party in power in Cameroon for more than 28 years and with less power sharing with some of those who have been in government and lost their confidence from Paul Biya and joint the opposition to create political parties, young people are not at all optimistic about the CPDM.

 Biya administration has abolished many grants and opportunities for young people in secondary school and universities. There is no financial stimulus to encourage young people to create their own business or to access high level of studies abroad. Only a minority with government help is able to do that.

The criticism here is that, that minority is within the secular group of those who collude with the government. Biya administration has trimmed many other opportunities for young people through cuts in funding for training services.

 For the next presidential election, members of  the same political party and ideology will soon go out again and try to attract more and more young people with false ideas and promises for a better future in case they voted for them again  and give them  more time ( 7 more years of disappointment)  to fix the economy and the country financial situation. ( What they have not been able  to  do earlier for the past 13 years). 

 This will be another huge and enormous lie from the government ministers and Paul Biya. What they have promised to young people in 1997 to do has not been done and they are now preparing to do the same for the next coming elections. Their free schools policy does not work around the entire country.

Some areas are experiencing problems receiving government help while others are just abusing the system.  Could Biya`s political party  offers anything different after 13 years of disappointment? 

In his recent address to the youth, Biya said <.....we must revisit this issue altogether, develop rice and maize farming, revive plantain farming and foster the growing of other food crops. In that way, we would not only be able to feed our population, but also to sell our surplus produce to neighbouring countries. This, of course, will require opening up farm-to-market roads in some parts of our country, where farmers find it difficult to market their produce. We can easily imagine the incidence of such a policy on employment and the standard of living in our rural areas. Many of you could play a key role in this policy....>

But how much money have been put in youth projects to encourage them to return to farming? It is very hard and even because of a poor communication and information government policy to have a single idea of where and when the money has been sent.

Since day one at the  Etoudi palace, the only issue Biya government has wanted to tackle was the fight against corruption and embezzlement.

 But unfortunately nothing was done since then and many members of the close family of the president have found themselves infected by corruption and embezzlement.

 More than £2000 millions have been distracted in Cameroon in the last 10 years by members of previous and actual government  acting in different ministerial departments with the help in some how by the head of state and his allies according to, a recent report from Prescriptor, a leading independent economic and  financial analyst and engineering on economy agency based in Yaounde in  Cameroon and many Non governmental organisations working in Cameroon and specially in these poorest areas.

 There can be no doubt these distractions of public funds and fake government policies have and will continue to  make young people`s live more difficult and even  miserable.

 And there are more bad news to come before the presidential election in Cameroon that will be held next October 2011 or before that period.

 Young people now have the ability to say that,  they want the change and a real change and not the renewal of the previous ideology and fake promises.

More than 65% of Young people in Cameroon have lost public confidence while a minority is still following Biya`s political program to rebuild the country financial and economic system. They do not trust any more the government.

That minority is part of those who strongly believe that with Biya again,  they can or (..might..) overcome poverty and corruption through a stronger and sustained commitment...