PM Calls Two Ministers to Order Over Outings on Biya’s Health

The Prime Minister, Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, has called to order Ministers Paul Atanga Nji and Henri Eyebe Ayissi concerning their recent outings on President Paul Biya’s health, Jeune Afrique has reported.

The PM is reported to have summoned both Ministers and expressed the Unity Palace’s disapproval of personal initiatives taken by both officials following reports of the President’s illness.

President Paul Biya, 91, has been missing from public view for 40 days now.

His prolonged absence triggered rumours that he was seriously ill or may have died. The rumours attracted reactions from government quarters, the Communication Minister and the Civil Cabinet both dismissing them as false.

The Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, acting as the Secretary General of the ruling CPDM party, also reacted. While the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Gregoire Owona, called for the arrest of those spreading rumours of the President’s death.

In another reaction, Paul Atanga Nji, the Minister of Territorial Administration, wrote to Governors instructing that media debates on President Biya’s health were “formerly prohibited”.

He warned that violators would “face the full force of the law” and instructed Governors to monitor and record all debates on the private press.

Subsequently, Henri Eyebe Ayissi, the Minister of State Property, Surveys and Land Tenure, called for an inter-religious ecumenical service to pray for the President.

He was acting as Vice-president of the Former Students of Catholic Seminaries of Cameroon (CASEMCA).

Minister Ayebe later postponed the prayers after a reported backlash from the Presidency, which had earlier dismissed rumours that Biya was sick.

The uncoordinated reactions of government Ministers, according to Jeune Afrique, exposed gaps in the Cameroon government’s communication structure.

The media organ said the Prime Minister clarified Atanga Nji and Eyebe Ayissi that only the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency has the legitimacy to communicate on the President’s health.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Communication, who is government spokesperson, is in charge of laying down rules for media expression, not Atanga Nji.

Mr Nji’s Press Censorship attempt attracted criticisms from media advocacy organisations and opposition leaders in Cameroon.

Former Presidential candidate, Barrister Akere Muna, called out Atanga Nji for usurping the duties of the Ministry of Communication and the National Communication Council.

The Committee to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Watch both condemned the ban on media reporting, and demanded a reversal of the decision.