Paul Biya’s men are currently less visible in positions of importance internationally. The failure points directly to Yaoundé’s weak and poorly guided diplomacy. The setbacks are multiplying for Cameroonian diplomats. In recent times, most Cameroonians who were racing for international important jobs and positions were defeated.

Issa Hayatou lost the election to the presidency of the Confederation of African Football on 16 March 2017.  The Prince of Garoua, at the head of the CAF since 1988, was humiliated by Malagasy Hamad Hamad. Two months later, Hamad Kalkaba Malboum failed to win the election to head the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA). The president of the Cameroonian Olympic Committee was even disqualified before the vote on grounds that he had monetized his lobbying with other member associations of ANOCA. Moreover, the retired colonel was provisionally suspended from all activities relating to the Olympics in Africa.

In 2005, Theodore Nkodo, then candidate for the presidency of the African Development Bank (ADB) was crushed. These repetitive failures exist for lack of a real policy of placing Cameroonians internationally. Everything in Cameroon is Biya and nothing but Biya noted our senior political commentator.

No Cameroonian gained a strategic position in the last elections in the African Union, yet our so-called Francophone political elites are constantly saying that Cameroon is the leader in the Central Africa Sub region. Very often Cameroonian candidates do not have the support of their own government for lame and ridiculous reasons that he/she is either an Anglophone or not from the ruling Beti Ewondo crime syndicate.

To vie for any international position as a Cameroonian, you must first succeed in reaching the President of the Republic, Paul Biya. This is not always obvious. Biya does not participate in international summits mindful of the fact that he took over from a man who till this day has the highest record of attending OAU heads of state meetings. The late Ahmadou Ahidjo, because of his always being present, succeeded in replacing Nzo Ekangaki with William Eteki Mboumoua as the Secretary General of the OAU when Nzo ran into trouble with the Ugandan thug, Idi Amin. Biya failed to replace the late General Tumenta with another Cameroonian general as the head of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic. He is indeed stifling Cameroonian diplomacy.

By Chi Prudence Asong

Cameroon Intelligence Report