President paul biya’s return to Cameroon sparks renewed leadership debate

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, who has led the nation since 1982 and holds the distinction of being the world’s longest-serving head of state, made his much-anticipated return to Yaoundé on Thursday, August 20. His arrival concluded an absence spanning over two months, a period that intensely reignited public debate concerning his capacity to effectively govern the country.

The 93-year-old Cameroonian leader had departed Yaoundé on June 7 for what the presidency described as a “short private stay in Europe.” Reports from the Cameroonian press indicated his presence in Geneva, Switzerland, accompanied by his family and a close circle of collaborators.

After 73 days away from the nation, Paul Biya emerged from the Yaoundé airport, offering a wave through the partially open window of his vehicle as it transported him towards his official residence, the Etoudi Palace. He was accompanied by his wife, Chantal Biya. Several dozen activists from the presidential party, some adorned in fabric bearing the president’s likeness, had gathered at the airport to greet him in a celebratory atmosphere.

President Biya’s health, a frequent subject of speculation given his regular stays in Geneva, often generates rumors that the government has sometimes sought to dispel. For instance, on June 18, Minister of Communication René Emmanuel Sadi publicly refuted media reports claiming the Cameroonian leader had been hospitalized in a Geneva clinic.

This unusually prolonged absence revitalized discussions about the perceived inertia within the Cameroonian government. It also drew sharp criticism from the opposition, who decried an “institutional vacuum” and a country operating on “autopilot,” particularly as appointments for a new government and a vice-president have been pending for many months.

A “spectacle”

“For a democracy like ours, it’s normal for a president’s extended absence to raise questions. But it hasn’t altered the country’s functioning; it continued to operate,” asserted Gilles Owono, a 30-year-old teacher who was among those at the airport to welcome 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 in late July. He maintained that “wherever he is, the head of state meticulously follows the dossiers submitted to him by his collaborators.”

Nevertheless, these recurrent absences, a pattern observed for over two decades, continue to fuel widespread frustration among many Cameroonians. “It changes nothing whether he is here or not. When he is here, he does nothing. Therefore, I don’t believe it’s necessary to participate in this spectacle,” sharply criticized Prosper Nkou Mvondo, leader of the opposition Univers party.

Paul Biya’s re-election for an eighth term in October 2025 had previously led to demonstrations that were violently suppressed, with the government acknowledging “several dozen” fatalities without providing an exact toll. The election results, disputed by the opposition, also prompted a degree of reservation from Western diplomatic missions.

This lengthy period away from Cameroon further intensified speculation regarding the post-Biya era, accelerating the race for his succession, which remains shrouded in uncertainty. In the absence of a vice-president, the responsibility of assuming power in the event of a vacancy would fall to the President of the Senate, Aboubakary Abdoulaye, until presidential elections could be organized.