In March 2016, Christian Cardinal Tumi, the former Archbishop of Douala called on President Paul Biya to quit office. The Cardinal called on the CPDM party to nominate someone else to take over.
In Jeune Afrique magazine during that same period, cardinal Tumi said “I am not against the candidacy of the head of state, but you see, we have almost the same age, and that age regardless endurance or physical strength, we are weakened. When one is old, he may be good to play an advisory role. But we can no longer run such a young and complex country”.
Today, the successor to Cardinal Tumi of the Douala Archdiocese has followed in his footsteps and vehemently called on President Paul Biya to resigned. He painted a gloomy picture of President Biya’s 34-year old reign and requested Biya to leave power before power leaves him- the Guardian Post reported in their Tuesday 18th October edition.
Bishop Kleda made the statement in Doula last week during an interview he granted to Canal 2 International. “The wind of change will come and CLEAN UP this old system that is causing Cameroonians so much suffering,” Kleda said.
He went on to called on Cameroonians to accept the reality of the imminent exit of Biya and prepare grounds for fruitful national dialogue so as to save the country from imminent disintegration in the aftermath. He blamed the tension that is enveloping as a fallout of a bad political system under Biya- Cameroon journal writes
Paul Biya born Paul Barthélemy Biya’a bi Mvondo, on 13 February 1933 has been the President of Cameroon since 6th November 1982 though he has been within the political rank and file holding public office since the 1960s. His regime has been marked by corruption and has taken a deep economic tool on the people. Tribalism, mediocrity, favouritism are order of the day
“Tyrants, the World’s 20 Worst Living Dictators”, by David Wallechinsky, ranked Biya with three others in sub-Saharan Africa:Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, and King Mswati of Swaziland as the worst dictators. He describes Cameroon’s electoral process in these terms: “Every few years, Biya stages an election to justify his continuing reign, but these elections have no credibility.
Biya regularly spends long periods of time in Switzerland at the HOTEL InterContinental Geneva wasting taxpayers money. Also, in 2009, Biya was ranked 19th in Parade Magazine’s Top 20 list of “The World’s Worst Dictators”
As we write, Biya is currently roaming around in Europe since he left the UN General Assembly in New York. He has no time to care about Cameroon as Common Law Lawyers are currently protesting with all courts across Anglophone Cameroon shut down.
God is still saying something.
1 comment
The day some Cameroonians will understand that being attached to greatness is not greatness in itself, they will shun shameful positions they occupy and know that it’s better to be a free poor man than be a privileged slave.