Cameroon bans discussing president’s health as absence fuels speculation

Health of Paul Biya, 91, declared matter of national security and any debate prohibited after denial that he has died
Eromo Egbejule in Abidjan and agenciesFri 11 Oct 2024 08.11 EDTLast modified on Fri 11 Oct 2024 11.29 EDTShareCameroonian authorities have banned discussions about the health of the president, Paul Biya, after the latest round of speculation about his prolonged failure to appear in public.
In a 9 October letter to regional governors, the interior minister, Paul Atanga Nji, said discussing the 91-year-old president’s health was a matter of national security and “any debate in the media about the president’s condition is therefore strictly prohibited”.
Nji, who said offenders would be prosecuted, instructed the governors to set up units to monitor broadcasts on private media channels. The ban also applies to social networks.
The directive follows an awkward denial by the government spokesperson René Sadi earlier this week of rumours that Biya had died either in a Paris hospital or in Geneva. The Cameroonian ambassador to France also added that the president was in good health in Geneva.
Biya has been president since 1982, long before most people in the central African country, where the average age is 18, were born. He was prime minister in the seven years prior and succeeded Cameroon’s only other president, Ahmed Ahidjo.
In recent years, the president has led the country from the five-star Intercontinental hotel in Geneva, where he and his wife have a floor reserved for their retinue of aides and followers.
Rumours of Biya’s death swirl in the media intermittently, fuelled by the frail-looking president’s regular absence from Cameroon and the public eye for long periods.
Biya has not been seen publicly since attending the China-Africa forum in Beijing in early September. He was missing that month at the UN general assembly, where he was expected to be present to show solidarity with his former long-serving premier Philémon Yang, the assembly’s current chair.
Biya cancelled an appearance at the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) summit this October.
According to the investigative newsletter Africa Confidential, Biya’s abdication of his official duties has become so habitual that Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, the secretary general of the presidency, now signs documents on his behalf.
“[Since] May 2019, pundits have wondered which edicts stem from the president and which from his nominee,” reported the newsletter.