Cameroon: president biya’s extended absence fuels power vacuum debate and succession speculation

Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state, has led Cameroon since 1982. Now 93 years old, he has been away from Cameroonian soil for 48 days, having departed on June 7 for what an official communiqué described as a “short private stay in Europe,” accompanied by his wife, Chantal Biya.

Mr. Biya’s health, given his frequent stays in Geneva, is a constant source of speculation, with rumors occasionally refuted by the government.

On June 18, following various press reports, René Emmanuel Sadi, the Minister of Communication, issued a statement to deny claims that the Cameroonian leader had been hospitalized in a Geneva clinic.

For Cameroon’s opposition, the president’s prolonged absence highlights a “blatant institutional void,” as Mamadou Mota, Vice-President of the Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC), stated on Facebook this past Friday.

“on autopilot”

Mid-July, Patricia Tomaïno Ndam Njoya, president of the Democratic Union of Cameroon (UDC), urged the government to establish an “impartial procedure for determining the temporary or permanent incapacity” of the head of state.

James Fame Ndongo, a senior figure within the presidential party and Minister of Higher Education, dismissed accusations of a power vacuum on Tuesday, asserting that “wherever he is, the head of state meticulously reviews the files submitted to him (…) by his collaborators.”

These controversies surrounding a power vacuum in Cameroon are not new. The most recent occurred in late 2024, when Mr. Biya spent approximately fifty days outside the country.

Another opposition party, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), dryly remarked on Friday that the nation was operating “on autopilot.”

These recurrent absences, spanning over two decades, continue to fuel frustration among many Cameroonians regarding the government’s perceived inertia. “People are already exhausted from waiting,” observed Viviane Ondoua Biwolé, a professor of public management at the University of Yaoundé.

She elaborated, “Firstly, because the current government has been in place for eight years, which is a record. Secondly, because we are emerging from an election with very mixed results. Many believe that after an election, it’s time for renewal.”

Mr. Biya’s re-election for an eighth term in October 2025 had triggered protests that were violently suppressed, with the government acknowledging “several dozen” deaths without providing an exact toll.

The election results, disputed by the opposition, were met with considerable reservation by Western diplomatic missions.

Two months later, in his December 31 address to the Nation, Mr. Biya pledged to form a new governmental team “in the coming days.”

However, seven months have passed, and the new government he announced has yet to be formed. This delay is compounded by multiple postponements of municipal and legislative elections, indefinitely extending the mandates of current officeholders.

the post-biya era

Nevertheless, the Cameroonian government recently initiated some institutional changes, including the replacement of the presidents of both parliamentary chambers in March, followed by the creation of a vice-president position through a constitutional reform in early May.

Yet, nearly three months after the reform, no vice-president has been appointed. This prolonged anticipation has inevitably fueled public speculation.

In June, an individual appeared at the public radio headquarters in Yaoundé, attempting to submit a document purported to be a presidential decree appointing the Vice-President of the Republic.

The counterfeit document bore presidential seals and a signature attributed to Mr. Biya, but it failed to deceive vigilant journalists who refrained from broadcasting it, though it still contributed to the ongoing rumors.

These institutional maneuvers only amplify speculation about the post-Biya era and appear to accelerate the race for his succession, which remains shrouded in uncertainty.

“There is, more or less visibly, a crisis existing at the top of the state among the president’s inner circle,” stated Ms. Ondoua Biwolé.

Political scientist Stéphane Akoa corroborated this, observing that “increasingly, indiscretions point to quarrels among the different clans in his entourage.”

Behind one of these “clans” looms the shadow of Chantal Biya, the First Lady, who is “increasingly present in state affairs,” with “her name often cited in decision-making and top appointments,” according to Mr. Akoa.

As long as a vice-president remains unappointed, the responsibility falls to the Senate President, Aboubakary Abdoulaye, to assume leadership in the event of a power vacuum, until a presidential election can be organized.