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.

Progress on political reform in Cameroon still slower

The progress on political reform in Cameroon since the amendment of the constitution in mid 2008 has been slower said her majesty`s government while assessing the political and economic situation in Cameroon, on Tuesday 2 November 2010 in the House of Lords.

Lord Howell of Guilford

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford), responding to a question put forward by Lord Luce in the House of Lords, regarding the situation in Cameroon ahead of the next crucial presidential election in 2011, said,  the little  power-sharing inclusive Government have made some progress since their formation  by the beginning of 1992-1994 and until today, most notably on the stabilisation of the economy.

One thing is real and scrutiny is the stabilisation of the economy with some slower progress on political reform and also a huge deficit and lack of political system of fighting against corruption in Cameroon.

There has been a considerable increase  in the severity and frequency of human rights abuses since the amendment of the constitution by the president Paul Biya in order to be able by the constitution to run for another presidential mandate next year. From different reports and press released, there has been some improvement .

Despite this, we remain concerned about ongoing abuses, particularly around the rule of law and the hardliners' continued exploitation of their control of the security apparatus and judiciary for political ends.

 The recent constitutional reform process has shown that state actors still have a capacity for violence and intimidation with no real intention of power-sharing in the government.


 The main opposition party, the Social Democratic Front has been out off the power-sharing government since 1994 while his members of the parliament or parliamentary group still acting in the parliament.

Persistent intransigence from hardliners, including the recent unilateral appointments made by President Paul Biya , led John Fru Ndi, leader of the Sdf,  to declare  unconstitutional crisis earlier last month the job previously  done by the Elecam, the government body that will organise, and monitor  the next presidential election.

We share opposition leader's frustration in Cameroon with the lack of a real political and ambitious reforms and support them in their  determination to remain in, for those who are at the moment in  the power-sharing Government and also encourage the Sdf, now  to seek advice on ways to start a new political life on power-sharing in the government.

In the absence of a road map to credible and properly monitored elections, Biya administration continue to offer the only credible means of transforming Cameroon  and delivering basic services to its people.

But to succeed, it needs a clear commitment from all parties to work together to implement the reforms set out in the global political agreement.

We will continue to work with our international partners in considering how best to work with reformers in Cameroon  and the region, to improve prospects of reform in Cameroon and to prepare for credible and properly monitored elections. A message to them will, Cameroon, the world is watching you.