Cameroon is grappling with mounting generational tensions following the re-election of 92-year-old President Paul Biya, who has extended his more than four-decade rule for another seven years. For many Cameroonians, most of whom were born after Biya first took office in 1982, he is the only leader they have ever known. Critics warn that his prolonged grip on power, coupled with rumours of grooming his son, Franck Biya, for succession, risks deepening political stagnation and public frustration.
Thelma Nyarhi, a researcher at the Democracy Development Programme and a PhD candidate in anthropology at UCT, said Biya’s continued leadership highlights a troubling disconnect between the country’s aging leadership and its youthful population.
“If you look at the median age range of Cameroon, most of the population is between 19 and 20. And then here you have a re-elected leader who is almost quadruple their age. It’s unheard of,” she stated.
Nyarhi added that Biya’s long tenure raises a wider question familiar across Africa: “Why do such leaders, despite their age, keep winning?”
She argues that the persistence of such regimes is rooted in institutional decay. “When you look at parliament and the justice system, they appear symbolic; they still support whatever the president decides. There’s no true separation of powers,” Nyarhi explains.
Rumours about Biya preparing his 54-year-old son to succeed him have further fuelled fears of a political dynasty. “It seems like, in the shadows, he’s being trained for that transition,” Nyarhi notes, warning that this opaque style of governance continues to undermine Cameroon’s democratic future and frustrate its youth, who are eager for change.
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