For six weeks, the dictator of French Cameroun, Paul Biya, has remained out of public view, fuelling fresh speculation over his health and the future of the Yaoundé regime. The 93-year-old ruler has not been seen since the May 20 celebrations, the annual event that many in Ambazonia reject as a French Cameroun national celebration. Since then, the only explanation from officials in Yaoundé has been that Biya is staying in Switzerland.
The silence has created fertile ground for conflicting reports. French publication Jeune Afrique claims Biya collapsed during a reception following the May 20 festivities before being discreetly flown to a private clinic in Geneva on June 7. According to the report, he is receiving treatment for a serious knee condition. The French Cameroun regime has dismissed the report as malicious and unfounded, yet it has failed to provide any recent video, photograph, or public appearance to prove the long-time ruler is alive and well.
The uncertainty deepened after Biya’s own daughter, Brenda Biya, released a video in which she declared in French, “Mon père est mourant,” meaning “My father is dying.” Although Brenda Biya has previously made sensational public statements that she later retracted, her latest declaration has added more fuel to growing concerns about the president’s condition.
At the time of publication, no independent source has been able to verify Biya’s true state of health. What remains undeniable, however, is that the Yaoundé regime has continued its decades-long tradition of treating the president’s health as a state secret. That secrecy has left millions of people across French Cameroun, many of whom have never known another head of state, relying on rumours and unofficial reports to understand who is actually governing the country.
After 44 years in power, Paul Biya remains absent from public view, while the machinery of the French Cameroun regime continues to function without its visible leader. Critics increasingly argue that French Cameroun is being ruled by a ghost president, with power exercised behind closed doors by an unelected inner circle.
By Lucas Muma – BaretaNews
