Cameroon’s president, Paul Biya, finally arrived Yaoundé in a very low-key event which was barely announced contrary to what his collaborators are used to doing.

He was welcomed at the airport by some of his closest collaborators who have been suffering in silence as the bad news regarding his health reached them in Yaoundé.

The Cameroon strong man, who never wears a mask, finally donned one, sparking rumors that he had been very sick and might have lost some teeth.  Physically, the President looked trimmed and tired, a sign that he had gone through some health issues.

Mr. Biya, whose declining health has been a cause for concern to many in Cameroon, had been under enormous pressure to return home even when his Swiss doctors had advised against him returning to Cameroon which lacks state-of-art technology to take care of his multiple illnesses.

Even the French President, Emmanuel Macron, had been urging the ailing Cameroonian president to return home before the constitutional provision that might result in the opposition calling for a declaration of a vacancy due to ill health or insanity, kicked in sometime next week.

The French are still looking for somebody who can validly replace Mr. Biya whom they consider too old and too frail to continue to defend their interests in Cameroon.

Before boarding the private jet to Cameroon, Mr. Biya’s Swiss doctors who were opposed to his return gave him some good doses of steroids which enabled him to beat any pain and to have the energy to get out of the airplane and walk to his limousine, a source in Geneva told the Cameroon Concord News Group.

“Mr. Biya is scheduled to return to Europe in a few weeks where he is expected to continue with his treatment. A Swiss medical expert will be in Yaoundé for a couple of weeks to continue monitoring the President whose health situation is still a major concern. The medical expert will be working in close collaboration with his colleagues in Geneva to ensure all goes according to plan,” the source added.

Mr. Biya, who is expected to receive the CAF president tomorrow, and then preside over the CEMAC Heads of State Summit, will be expected to stay away from the public because of his health and the Coronavirus which can easily eliminate him due to his age and co-mobidity, although he has taken his two doses of the anti-covid vaccine.

It is rumored that he is currently working on a new cabinet and this will imply ridding himself of some of the sycophants who have been responsible for the escalation of the Southern Cameroons crisis.

Many cabinet ministers are aware of the cabinet reshuffle and many have been working extra hard to prove that they are loyal and capable of helping the dictator implement his political and economic agenda which has only plunged the country into multiple crisis.

Mr. Biya is expected to be briefed by the Minister of Defense, Joseph Beti Assomo, on the unfortunate drama playing out in the two English-speaking regions of the country and in the Far North region where Boko Haram is blowing up many soldiers and a civil war between two tribes is playing out in a very ugly way.

The Cameroon Concord News Group’s correspondent in Yaoundé, Rita Akana, is keeping a close eye on things and has reported that there is an uncertain calm in Yaoundé, though there is relief that the main architect of the destructive corruption in Cameroon is back.

She has also pointed out that though the president’s return is good news to his collaborators, many Cameroonians still hold that Mr. Biya has overstayed his welcome and that it is time for a new generation to steer the country to safer shores.

Many Cameroonians are reluctant to express their minds in public because of the tidal wave of fear and intimidation that Mr. Biya has engineered but behind the scenes, they say that he clearly belongs to the past and that they are looking forward to the day this complicated equation will be solved.

More will be yours as we get more details.

Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai