President Biya officially left Cameroon at the beginning of September. As such, he is on a mission. The duration of the presidential stay abroad is not legally determined, even if the prevailing discourse gives him an acceptable forty days to stay outside Cameroon.
Political scientist Pierre Nka believes that there is no point in talking about a vacation of the Presidency of the Republic.
“Given that he is out of the country for a public activity, known to Cameroonians, it is difficult today to speak of vacancy. Because if it was a private matter or he is extracted from Cameroon and that we do not see it for long periods of time, there it is possible to invoke articles 4 and 10 of the constitution” he explains while ensuring that “in this case, the President of the Republic is out of the country for something that concerns the functioning of the State.”
Vacation cases according to the Constitution
According to article 4 of the Constitution mentioned by political scientist Pierre Nka, the vacancy of the Presidency of the Republic is noted by the Constitutional Council in the event of death, resignation or permanent incapacity.
In this case, the ballot for the election of the new President of the Republic must take place at least twenty (20) days and at most one hundred and twenty (120) days after the opening of the vacancy.
In this period the constitution provides that “The interim President of the Republic is exercised automatically, until the election of the new President of the Republic, by the President of the Senate. And if the latter is, in turn prevented, by his substitute following the order of precedence of the Senate“.
The political scientist continues that Cameroonians must remain consistent with what he knows about the habits of their president.
That is to say, someone so hidden that we always believe he is absent even when he is in Cameroon.
Update with Henri Fotso
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For other observers, it is article 10 of the Constitution, mentioned by analyst Pierre Nka, which currently governs the country. This article 10 also provides:
“The President of the Republic may delegate certain of his powers to the Prime Minister, to other members of the Government and to certain senior officials of the State administration, within the framework of their respective responsibilities. (3) In the event of temporary impediment, the President of the Republic instructs the Prime Minister or, in the event of his impediment, another member of the Government, to carry out certain of his functions, within the framework of an express delegation.
During the 42 years of reign, Paul Biya sometimes stayed abroad so long that sometimes he was announced dead, and suddenly he reappeared at the last minute.
Once in 2004, in another case of speculation about his death, he responded to his exit from the plane on national television: “Those who are interested in my funeral, I will meet them in around twenty years“.
