President Biya Sneaks Back Home After 74 Days Abroad

By Tata Mbunwe

President Paul Biya has ended his lengthy stay abroad, returning to Cameroon on Thursday, August 20, after spending more than two months in Geneva, Switzerland, without being seen in public.

The plane carrying the 93-year-old President, his wife Chantal Biya and members of his closest circle landed at Yaoundé’s Nsimalen Airport on Thursday evening without any prior official announcement.

Biya returned almost the same way he has lived over the past 74 days: quietly. But for some hints from pro-goverment activists a day earlier, Biya’s return was surreptitious and void of official communication from the government.

Prior to this Thursday, the President was last seen in public on June 7, when he boarded a flight for what the presidency described as a “brief private stay in Europe.”

That brief stay stretched into weeks and eventually surpassed two months, attracting widespread media attention in Cameroon and abroad.

It also triggered questions, speculation and debate over the legality of the President’s prolonged stay outside the country. However, no national law appears to set a specific limit on the duration of a presidential stay abroad.

Some politicians and government critics also raised the possibility of a power vacuum at the Unity Palace and demanded greater accountability from the government.

Throughout the controversy, the presidency’s official communication remained largely silent, while government ministers sought to dismiss concerns about the President’s healt and power vacuum.

Government officials pointed to the signing of several decrees during his stay abroad, including an unprecedented reshufle of the military command, as evidence that Biya remained active and continued to attend to state affairs despite being outside the country.

According to MMI News findings, the 74-day absence is the longest period President Biya has spent outside Cameroon since he came to power in 1982. This was also his first announced trip abroad since he took on his eighth presidential mandate, after being declared winner of the October 12, 2025, election.

President Biya has previously made numerous private and official trips to different countries and has, on several occasions, spent weeks away from the public eye. He has even been declared dead or critically sick multiple times during periods of prolonged absence.

But never before, according to the findings, has he spent more than two months continuously outside the country.

His return has been celebrated by government supporters but for many Cameroonians, the questions raised by his lengthy absence have not disappeared with his arrival.

They continue to demand greater accountability from a government that provided little information about the whereabouts and activities of a President who spent more than two months outside the country.

Moreso, Biya’s extended stay abroad also comes at a time when Cameroon faces significant economic pressures.

More than 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line, while the government increasingly relies on external borrowing to finance development projects.

Against this backdrop, critics argue that prolonged presidential stays abroad place additional pressure on public finances and raise questions about the use of state resources that could otherwise be directed towards development and addressing the country’s pressing needs.