Two months before the scheduled 2025 presidential elections, Cameroon finds itself at a theatre of political futility. At its centre stands Paul Biya — ninety-two years old, forty-three years in power — poised for yet another electoral coronation. Not because the people have freely chosen him, but because the machinery of the state has been engineered to suffocate competition. What lies ahead is not an election, but a choreographed ritual with a preordained outcome.
This is not merely absurd; it is an insult to the nation’s intelligence. Cameroon, a land alive with youthful energy, remains shackled under the dead weight of relics from another century—an ageing oligarchy whose chief accomplishment has been the perpetuation of its own rule. Must the country endure yet another seven years under a cabal whose only proven skill is clinging to office?
A Broken Electoral Process
The National Electoral Council has betrayed the Republic with a recklessness bordering on criminality. The political playing field is neither level nor legitimate. Three facts alone strip this exercise of any claim to democratic credibility.
1. The Prohibitive Cost of Participation
The imposition of a 30 million CFA registration fee amounts to political extortion. It effectively excludes much of the younger generation and independent candidates of modest means, depriving the nation of the fresh, visionary leadership it desperately needs. When wealth becomes the price of admission to politics, then democracy becomes a privilege for the rich.
2. A Hollow Field of Candidates
The list of approved candidates inspires little hope of national renewal. Maurice Kamto; once celebrated as the “people’s lawyer” and Biya’s most formidable challenger was unceremoniously defenestrated. He now drifts, politically homeless, after being cast aside by the coalition he believed would elevate him. Rather than rallying his base to take the moral high ground, he has allowed silence and the reckless behaviour of his followers — street brawls and vandalism — thus, handing the regime every excuse to tighten repression.
The remaining contenders are a weary assembly of recycled loyalists and political veterans. Some, like Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary, remain tainted and still reeking of the very regime they claim to oppose. Their careers have been marked less by principle than by opportunism.
3. A Stifled Political Climate
Dissent is crushed, civil liberties curtailed, and the electorate drifts in a fog of disillusionment and uncertainty. There is no anticipation of a genuine contest — only the silence of a foregone conclusion.
The Spectre of a Constitutional Crisis
This malaise would be troubling enough under a young vigorous leader. Instead, Cameroon is tethered to a fatigued patriarch whose chief political genius has been his ability to survive — survival made possible by the opposition’s chronic disunity.
A constitutional crisis now looms in the country. It is not even certain that Biya himself at 92, has consented to run for an eighth term. As always, he remains a distant, spectral presence, while Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the omnipotent Secretary-General at the Presidency, acts as his gatekeeper and shield.
The candidate does not campaign, he does not address the people. His absence invites speculation: frailty, cognitive decline, quiet dissent, or simple detachment. The truth remains hidden. Whatever the cause, legitimacy has already evaporated.
Why the 2025 Elections Cannot Proceed
The moral consensus ought now to be clear: the 2025 presidential elections, in their present form, cannot proceed. They are structurally rigged in favour of the incumbent, and the nation is denied transparency on his true condition and will.
Mine is not a lone voice to harbour scepticism. The celebrated lawyer and elder statesman Yondo Black, has expressed similar sentiments about the 2025 presidential elections — labelling it a “fake show” of democracy and calling for a boycott by the opposition. To participate without conditions is to baptise a fraud and a farce with legitimacy.
The Call for a Transitional Government
The only course consistent with the dignity of the Republic is the formation of a united national bloc to demand a transitional government. This temporary, inclusive administration would oversee deep electoral reform as the necessary foundation for any future vote.
Such a government must be composed not of sycophants or career opportunists, but of individuals with integrity and competence. Cameroon is rife with capable individuals: finest political minds — young, educated, and politically sophisticated — from across the spectrum, at home and abroad. Members of such a transitional authority should be individuals of integrity, with a proven record of competence and service.
They must be technocrats who understand systems, visionaries capable of reimagining the nation, and pragmatic managers who can translate vision into reality.
The Role of Leadership Beyond Ambition
Above all, they must be people-centred — leaders who inspire respect through service, empathy, and accountability rather than power. They must reflect Cameroon’s diversity: drawn from different political traditions yet unbound by partisan loyalty; rooted both at home and in the diaspora; united by a common commitment to the public good. Whatever their past rivalries, unity is no longer optional but essential to national survival.
Yes, the likes of Akere Muna, Issa Tchiroma, Bello Bouba, Joshua Osih, Maurice Kamto, and Cabral Libii have strengths to contribute — legal gravitas, media acumen, veteran networks, parliamentary experience, intellectual rigour, youthful energy. But this moment demands more than their recycled ambition. It demands that these men and others like them submit to a collective project beyond their personal goals — to lend their expertise to such an enterprise.
Together with civil society, the business community, academia, faith institutions, and the diaspora — intellectuals, technocrats, and entrepreneurs — they could assemble a transitional authority that commands both domestic legitimacy and international credibility.
A Historic Choice for Cameroon
This is no longer about party survival or individual ambition. It is about rescuing the Republic from terminal democratic decay. Since 1992, the “lone strong candidate” illusion has yielded nothing but repeated defeat. The lesson is clear: divided, the opposition is the regime’s greatest ally; united, it can become the historic force that reshapes the nation’s political destiny.
History will not remember the fine print of their lofty manifestos. It will remember whether, at this decisive hour, those with power and ambition chose to serve themselves or the country. The central question is no longer who becomes the next president, but whether Cameroon remains a democracy worth saving.
The choice is a clear one. Either unite for a transitional government now, or once again become spectators to your own national destiny.
