After vigorously denying alarming rumors about the state of President Paul Biya, the authorities of Cameroon have “formally prohibited” the media to discuss his health, in a ministerial note addressed to regional governors of which AFP received a copy on Thursday.
“The Head of State is the first institution of the Republic and debates on his state fall within the domain of national security”states the note signed by Paul Atanga Nji, the Minister of Territorial Administration. “Any debate in the media on the state of the President of the Republic is therefore formally prohibited” et “offenders will have to face the rigor of the law”continues this internal note dated October 9, stamped with a red notice “very urgent”.
Read also: Cameroon: Paul Biya, 90 years old, 41 years in power and still no retirement in sight
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The letter orders each governor to create “monitoring units responsible for monitoring and recording all broadcasts and debates in private media and identifying the authors of tendentious comments, including those who act through social networks”. The prolonged absence of the head of state, who has not made any public appearance since the beginning of September, has given rise to concerns, questions and then alarming rumors on social networks.
“He goes about his business in Geneva”
Present at the summit of the China-Africa cooperation forum (Focac) from September 4 to 6, the head of state, aged 91, did not participate in the last UN General Assembly in New York, nor at the last Francophonie Summit, in Villers-Cotterêts (Aisne) and Paris.
At 91 years old, Paul Biya is the oldest elected leader in office. He has ruled Cameroon without sharing for more than forty-one years. To cut short the “disinformation maneuvers” announcing it “seriously ill or even passed away”the presidency published a reassuring press release on Tuesday on its “excellent state of health”. Il “works and goes about his business in Geneva”according to the presidency, it “is doing well and will return to Cameroon in the coming days”according to the government spokesperson.
In recent years, he has only appeared for rare televised speeches, recorded and painfully delivered. Or in photos and videos of family celebrations, alongside Chantal, his very influential wife. His detractors accuse him of ruling from an ivory tower from his native village of Mvoméka’a, in the South, where he spends most of his time when he is not abroad, while Cameroon faces significant security, economic and social challenges.
