Cameroon’s former First Lady and wife to former President Ahmadou Ahidjo died and was buried yesterday beside her husband in Senegal.
Prior to her death, Germain Ahidjo fought vehemently for the repatriation of her husband’s corpse from Senegal back to Cameroon where it belongs. Her efforts were fruitless as she also died in exile and has been laid to rest in the same place where Cameroon’s former president was laid back in 1989.
Reacting to the burial of the Mrs Germain Ahidjo, CRM President Maurice Kamto recalled the difficulties in which the former first lady had lived through to her demise.
“It is with great sadness that I learned of the death of the one who was the very first First Lady of an Independent Cameroon, Mrs Germain Ahidjo,” he stated.
“On my own behalf and on behalf of the entire CRM party, I extemd my sincere condolences to the hard-hit family. This is also an opportunity for me to express my gratitude and that of the Cameroonian people to the Government and the People of Senegal for their hospitality and the humanism they have shown towards the late Cameroonian Presidential Couple…”
Maurice Kamto also dwelled on the conditions in which Mrs Germain Ahidjo died. Having died in exile, Kamto was critical of how Paul Biya’s regime that came to power through an agreeable transfer, refused to grant her the wish of repatriating her late husband’s corpse to the country, and to organise a proper funeral for her.
He also added that the Republic of Cameroon needs a political overhaul which will include dialogue, forgiveness and reconciliation so as to forge the country ahead.
