Cameroon’s Paul Biya: the president with nine lives --[Reported by Umva mag]

In the pantheon of folklore it is cats that are associated with nine lives, but Cameroon’s president has something of that reputation after 42 years in power and still counting.

At 91, Paul Biya is Africa’s and one of the world’s oldest heads of state and the second longest-serving leader on the continent after Teodora Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea who has been in power since 1979.

With his advanced age, Biya and speculations about his health are always mentioned in the same breath and recently his absence from public functions both national and international has led to rumours about his state of health.

He was conspicuously absent during a summit of Francophone leaders in Paris and was not president in last month’s UN general assembly in New York which gave the peddlers of such rumours a field day to read a lot from this.

The speculations were so strong and persistent over the last few days that it had even culminated in claims that Biya had died.

Sources close to the presidency even suggested that Biya has been suffering from fatigue.

Cameroon’s ministry of communication was prompted to issue an official statement on Tuesday, denying growing speculation about the president’s death and allay fears about his health.

Cameroonians have witnessed how through the course of 42 years, Biya’s voice had gradually rasped with age.

The nonagenarian’s stooping gait and wobbly steps neccessitated aides to be very close by during public appearances to preempt his fall. And this image has not fooled Cameroonians about Biya irrespective of what his government says about him

Nonetheless the government firmly rejected claims suggesting his health had taken a tumble, describing them as ‘fantasy’ and ‘pure imagination’.

The statement singled out for criticism some television channels for relaying what it called unverified information in order to gain views and rating.

President Biya it said had granted himself “a brief private stay in Europe” after his active participation in the China-Africa Summit. Reports from some government officials who wish to remain anonymous say he is in his usual resort in Switzerland.

The government assures citizens that, despite his physical absence from the country, the Cameroonian head of state remains ‘attentive to developments in national life’.

It called on Cameroonians as well as international partners and friendly countries not to allow themselves to be influenced by what it describes as “manoeuvres of disinformation, instrumentalisation and destabilisation.”

These actions are attributed to “pernicious groups and individuals” acting on “ulterior motives.”

The statement concludes by affirming that President Biya ”will ‘return to Cameroon in the next few days.”

Meanwhile, the rumour mill still continues to churn out more speculations leading Cameroonians demanding evidence proving that their president for 42 years ”is still alive and kicking” as claimed.

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