Record absence of world’s oldest head of state reignites health speculation

Paul Biya giving a speech in Maroua, Cameroon, last October, with his wife, Chantal, sitting beside him. Photograph: Xinhua/AlamyView image in fullscreenPaul Biya giving a speech in Maroua, Cameroon, last October, with his wife, Chantal, sitting beside him. Photograph: Xinhua/AlamyCameroonFifty-three days and counting: 93-year-old leader’s record absence fuels health speculationCameroon’s Paul Biya has not made a statement or been seen since leaving for ‘brief private stay’ at Swiss hotel on 7 June

Prefer the Guardian on GoogleA record 53-day absence by the world’s oldest head of state has renewed speculation in his native Cameroon about whether he is dead or alive, even though discussing his health is illegal in the country.

On 7 June, 93-year-old Paul Biya left for Switzerland for what officials described as a “brief private stay” alongside his wife, Chantal. Almost two months later, neither the president nor the first lady have addressed the country or been seen publicly.

Biya, who took office in 1982 after a seven-year stint as prime minister, has taken increasingly long absences from Cameroon in recent years, spending much of his time at the five-star InterContinental hotel in Geneva.

No official timetable has been announced for the president’s return from his latest trip abroad, leaving Cameroonians to rely on a succession of conflicting statements from government officials.

The minister of communication, René Emmanuel Sadi, said Biya was in good health and “working from Geneva, where he currently resides”.

“Reports claiming otherwise are pure fantasy and malicious manipulation aimed at destabilising opinion,” he added. Jacques Fame Ndongo, a senior official from the ruling party and the higher education minister, said Biya had been “meticulously following the files submitted to him by his aides … wherever he is”.

The labour minister, Grégoire Owona, gave a different explanation, saying the president was on annual leave and comparing him to regular Cameroonian citizens. “Paul Biya, elected by the Cameroonian people and paid by them, is a worker who has the right to annual leave,” he said. “His employer is obliged to grant it. He informed his employer before leaving and will do the same upon his return.”

Mamadou Mota, the vice-president of the opposition Cameroon Renaissance Movement party, said Biya’s latest absence had created a “glaring institutional vacuum”. “A country cannot be governed by remote control while critical socioeconomic challenges go unaddressed,” he said.

Last November, Biya was sworn in for his eighth consecutive seven-year term, a month after a presidential election marred by widespread allegations of irregularities and voter suppression. Although the Constitutional Council dismissed post-electoral complaints by opposition parties, many of them refused to recognise the outcome, arguing that the election had further eroded public confidence in Cameroon’s democratic institutions.

Cameroon has the largest economy in central Africa, but unemployment rates, high inflation and poor public infrastructure are stymieing the prospects of its young people, who make up about two-thirds of its estimated population of 30.6 million.

“Politics should be about serving the people, but the [ruling] CPDM [party] appears more interested in holding on to power than addressing the concerns of Cameroonians,” said Kohtem Sambit, the secretary general of the opposition Movement for Patriotism and People’s Prosperity.

“The minister of the economy borrowed more than 21bn [Central African francs] in the name of the Cameroonian people, saying it was approved by Mr Biya,” Sambit told the Guardian. “How do we justify this? You do not see the person who signed, nor do you know his whereabouts. That debt will be paid by the public.”

Referring to Owona’s remarks, Sambit said: “If the president is on annual leave, he is still accountable to the Cameroonian people because he is paid with taxpayers’ money. His whereabouts should therefore be disclosed.”

Read moreAnother opposition party, the Social Democratic Front, has argued that the issue is not whether the president has a constitutional right to travel, but rather the government’s failure to explain the extension of what had initially been described as a brief private visit. Another opposition leader, Patricia Tomaïno Ndam Njoya, of the Cameroon Democratic Union, has called for an impartial procedure to determine any “temporary or permanent incapacity of the head of state”.

In April, parliament reintroduced the office of vice-president as part of a constitutional overhaul, but the position has yet to be filled, leaving Cameroon without a designated deputy should the president become incapacitated. As Biya’s son and stepson reportedly jockey for position, public disagreements between cabinet ministers have become commonplace.

Last week, the party’s secretary general, Jean Nkuete, convened a rare meeting of senior party officials. The CPDM described the gathering only as an “important working session” and did not release an agenda or further details. Attempts to obtain comment from senior party figures were unsuccessful. Several party officials have declined interview requests, citing personal reasons.

For the businessman Nji Lucas, the president’s prolonged absence has become an economic concern. “I do not have confidence because it is almost as if the country is on autopilot,” he said. “No serious investor wants to commit resources in a country where there is uncertainty over political leadership. There is no trust, and investors require certainty before making long-term decisions.”