Cameroon President Paul Biya, the world’s oldest head of state, turns 92 years old on Thursday after more than four decades in power but remains tight-lipped on whether he will run for another term in elections this year.
Many people including the deeply divided opposition are in little doubt that the leader, who first won election in 1982, will stand for an eighth term in the October vote.
After highly contested elections in 2018, Biya further toughened his autocratic grip on power, with dissenting opinions firmly met with repression, arrests and prison terms, human rights activists say.
“The president has already said that he will make known whether or not he is a candidate in this election at the appropriate time,” government spokesman and Communication Minister Rene Emmanuel Sadi said last month.
Biya has refrained from picking a successor and the subject of who would replace him remains taboo.
“In the current context, even if he were lying on a stretcher, candidate Biya will be re-elected,” said former minister Garga Haman Adji in an interview with the daily Mutations in July.
Concerns about Biya’s health grew last year when he disappeared from public view for several weeks.
Persistent rumours prompted authorities to release a statement saying Biya was in Switzerland, where the leader has regularly spent long periods staying at luxury holiday resorts.
The government then formally banned local media from discussing the state of his health.
Since his return to the country on October 21, Biya’s public appearances have been limited — a few official photos at the presidential palace, a regional summit in the capital Yaounde and a handful of speeches broadcast on television.
As in previous election years, voices from across society are calling on him to again stand for office.
“My determination to serve you remains intact and is strengthened on a daily basis, given the scale of the challenges we face,” Biya said in his end-of-year address, welcoming a “massive support”.
In January, traditional leaders expressed their “total and unwavering” support. On Facebook, some supporters said Biya was “still strong” and can withstand two more terms.
