Three government ministers chorused in unison that President Paul Biya was alive and kicking after a foreign media based in South Africa erroneously announced his death, widening the spate of rumours about his health and whereabouts.
It was the Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, who is also the communication secretary of the ruling party who fired the first salvo.
.”This is news devoid of any foundation. This phantasmagoric scheme should not shake the political maturity, lucidity, and patriotism of Cameroonians and friends of our dear and beautiful country”, he fumed.
For his part, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Grégoire Owona, who is also a senior official of the ruling party, called on the competent institutions to crack down “on these impostors, wherever they come from and wherever they broadcast from”.
Their reactions to the fake news was crowned with a more reassuring statement crafted by government spokesman, Rene Emmanuel Sadi, stating that the Head of State is well and will return to Cameroon in the coming days
In his declaration, René Emmanuel Sadi asserted that these rumors “are pure fantasy and imagination”. The government spokesperson reminds that “following the China-Africa summit in which he actively participated, the Head of State took a short private stay in Europe”. From there, the President of the Republic remains “attentive to the evolution of national life”, assured the Minister of Communication. To dispel any doubts about the President’s health, he concludes that “the Head of State is well and will return to Cameroon in the coming days”.
In the same vein, the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic also released a statement to reassure the public about “the excellent health” of President Paul Biya, who “is working and attending to his duties in Geneva, from where he has not left since his arrival from Beijing”.
These statements from the government spokesperson and the Civil Cabinet of the PRC aim to put an end to the persistent rumors about the Head of State’s health. Indeed, in recent days, many voices have expressed concern about the President’s health.
Opposition parties and civil society groups have been calling for an update on the status of Biya’s health and his exact whereabouts.
With no clear succession plan, Biya’s death would bring more political turmoil to West and Central Africa, which has seen eight coups since 2020 and several other military attempts to overthrow governments.
His recent absence from the meeting of leaders from French-speaking countries in Paris was much remarked on at the two-day event, according to three non-Cameroonian African ministers who attended.
“He’s over 90, he hasn’t been involved in day-to-day business for a long time, but if he dies, the situation is likely to get out of hand,” said one of the ministers, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“No one has prepared for the aftermath. We don’t know what Cameroon (would) be like without Paul Biya.”
