Fame Ndongo Justifies 91-year-old Biya’s Reelection Bid

The governing Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement party (CPDM) has signalled that 91-year-old President Paul Biya will contest in next year’s presidential elections.

On Sunday, December 28, 2024, CPDM’s Communication Secretary and Higher Education Minister, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo, in a statement said the President has every right to seek reelection.

The statement, a copy of which MMI obtained, advanced several reasons supporting Biya’s candidature in the 2025 polls.

According to Fame Ndongo, the Cameroon Constitution, CPDM militants, and the party’s texts support Paul Biya’s candidacy.

This contradicts opposition voices and some CPDM supporters who have recently demanded for Biya’s resignation due to his advanced age and lengthy stay in power.

Having ruled Cameroon for 42 years, President Biya is among the world’s longest serving heads of state.

If he wins another seven-year term in 2025, he would be 99 years old when his mandate ends in 2032.

Prof Fame Ndongo noted that Article 6, Paragraph 2 of the Constitution gives President Paul Biya the right to seek reelection.

The constitutional provision states that the President of the Republic serves a term of seven years, which can be renewed indefinitely.

Prof Ndongo also recalled that the basic texts of the CPDM party empower the president to run for elections again.

The text empowers the party chairman, in this case president Biya, to be its candidate for any presidential elections.

“The basic texts of the CPDM are of an incontestable and uncontested clarity. The National President of the CPDM is the candidate of the party in the presidential election,” Fame Ndongo said.

Support for Biya

Some party supporters have hitherto been calling on President Paul Biya to be a 2025 presidential candidate.

This, to the CPDM spokesperson, justifies why the 91-year-old Paul Biya will once more present himself for re-election.

Emphasising that no one can deny President Biya his right to seek reelection, he recalled: “On November 6, 2024, all sections of the CPDM solemnly and unequivocally renewed their call for the candidacy of Mr. Paul BIYA in the 2025 presidential election.”

He dismissed arguments calling on Biya to retire, stating that such arguments are mere opinions without reason.

“Since the Constitution allows President Paul Biya to run for president, on what legal basis can a citizen ask him not to exercise this right?” he questioned.

“The debate is open facts against facts, arguments against arguments, political vision against political vision. The CPDM is ready: Let us not fight. Let us debate.”

Demands for President’s Departure

President Paul Biya is 91 years old and has been president of Cameroon since 1982.

This was after he served as Prime Minister from 1975 to 1982.

Due to his age and lengthy stay in power, some opposition figures and CPDM voices have expressed the need for Biya to quit.

In July this year, 10 grassroots leaders of the CPDM across the country issued a statement calling for Mr Biya to step down.

They warned that the party risks losing the 2025 presidential elections if President Biya stands as its candidate.

“If this major political concern is not immediately taken into account in the same way as letting the National President and President of the Republic go to rest after so many years of work, then we will certainly run towards defeat in next year’s presidential election, with, as a consequence, the disappearance of our party,” they wrote.

In another blow, Leon Theiler Onana, a CPDM Councillor from Monatele, penned an epistle calling on Biya to let the youths take over.

“Remember, great comrade, that you became President of the Republic at 49 after having assumed high functions as charge de mission at 26,” he reminded.

Opposition Member of Parliament for Wouri East, Jean Michel Nintcheu, echoed similar sentiments, calling on the Head of State to step down.

He accused the President of violating the constitution.

“The Head of State, guarantor of the Constitution, finds himself in an extremely serious situation when he violates the fundamental law that he is supposed to defend,” Nintcheu said.

Mimi Mefo Info