YAOUNDÉ (Realist English). Paul Biya, the 92-year-old president of Cameroon and the world’s oldest head of state, will seek a new seven-year term in Sunday’s election, extending a rule that has already lasted more than four decades.
Biya, who first became prime minister in 1975 and assumed the presidency in 1982, has outlasted coup attempts, separatist uprisings and persistent rumors of his death. Known for his long stays at the Intercontinental Hotel in Geneva, he has governed mostly from afar — and yet continues to dominate the political landscape of the oil-rich Central African nation of 30 million people.
“After 43 years, the guy is still there — well, sitting — and at 92 he wants to run again. It’s surreal,” said Akere Muna, an anti-corruption advocate and former presidential candidate.
Biya’s decision to run again — announced quietly on X in July — ended speculation that he might finally retire. Confident of victory, he has barely campaigned; portraits and papier-mâché effigies of Biya and his wife Chantal have toured the country in his stead.
Of the 83 people who declared intentions to run, only about 10 candidates remain after disqualifications, including leading opposition figure Maurice Kamto, barred over his party’s previous election boycott. Despite widespread disillusionment, few expect a genuine contest: independent observers no longer monitor Cameroon’s elections, citing government control over every stage of the process.
Biya’s long rule has brought political stability at great cost. The economy has stagnated, poverty has deepened, and security has deteriorated. Boko Haram attacks continue in the north, while conflict with Anglophone separatists in the west has displaced hundreds of thousands.
“The inequality, corruption, lack of infrastructure — everything is falling apart,” said Muna. “To assume everyone is happy with this is absurd.”
Biya’s critics call him an “absentee president”, governing through loyalists from his Beti ethnic group. Even former allies are turning against him. Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a 75-year-old former minister who resigned to challenge Biya, declared in his manifesto:
“A country cannot exist in the service of one man. This model, once called stability, has suffocated progress and broken the bond between the state and its citizens.”
Still, Biya’s supporters credit him with keeping Cameroon united amid regional chaos. In a rare campaign appearance this week in Maroua, he acknowledged citizens’ frustrations but insisted he was not finished yet:
“I am aware of the unfulfilled expectations that make you doubt the future,” he said. “But I can assure you — the best is still to come.”
As Cameroon heads to the polls, the man once destined for the priesthood appears determined to hold power until nearly his 100th birthday, defying age, dissent, and time itself.
