Cameroon’s President Paul Biya, 91, has hinted at seeking an eighth term in the 2025 presidential election, reaffirming his dedication to the nation in a New Year’s address.
Biya, who has led the country since 1982, is the world’s longest-serving president and would be 92 at the time of the election. His prolonged absence from public events in recent months has sparked speculation about his health, intensifying public debate.
While the government insists he remains fit to govern, a 2024 ban on media discussions regarding his health has drawn criticism, raising fresh concerns about press freedom.
But Cameron’s opposition and civil society disagree with that positive assessment, saying under Biya the Cameroon Bank and the Fund for Agricultural Development created to fund farmers’ projects crumbled.
The opposition also says corruption has become widespread during Biya’s rule, with Transparency International ranking Cameroon as the most corrupt country in 1998 and 1999.
Cabral Libii, 44, an opposition parliamentarian with Cameroon’s Party for National Reconciliation, or PCRN, placed third in Cameroon’s 2018 presidential elections.
Libii said Cameroonian youth will not continue to watch Biya cripple the economy, deprive civilians of their liberties and freedoms, and rule Cameroon with an iron fist while now showing signs of being ruler for life.
He said Biya is the cause of sorrows brought about by extremely high unemployment, underemployment and crises in the English-speaking western regions that have claimed more than 6,000 lives.
Libii said Cameroon opposition and civil society are organizing themselves to present a candidate to oust Biya, whom they describe as elderly and frail to the point he is hardly seen in public.
Libii said Cameroon needs young dynamic leaders to salvage the country from underdevelopment.
Opponents said many youths were hired to take part in rallies to give the false impression that Biya is popular.
Both the government and Biya’s CPDM party officials deny that civilians, especially poor youth, were hired.
At 91, Biya is the oldest leader in the world and the second-longest-serving president after his neighbor, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea.
Biya’s party says he has won all presidential elections since the return of multiparty politics in Cameroon in 1990, but the opposition says previous elections have been marred by fraud.
