As presidential and parliamentary elections are fast approaching, the various political parties, including the ruling party, are fine-tuning their strategies to make themselves more attractive.

The ruling CPDM, which has long lost its attractiveness, now thinks it’s time to build a new image which will make it a force to reckon with the youthful electorate which has been calling for change in Cameroon and this will surely start with a cabinet shake-up which will include more youthful and credible faces.

Years of corruption and economic stagnation in Cameroon have hurt the Biya government in a big and bad way, especially as the country’s unemployment issue has now become a national pandemic.

However, Mr. Biya, who has been resting in his native Mvomeka’a for some time now, is slowly refining his plans for a new and youthful cabinet.

According to a CPDM insider, a cabinet reshuffle is on the horizon; with rumors having it that Oswald Baboke would replace Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh as the Secretary General at the Presidency of the Republic (SGPR).

Ngoh Ngoh has been playing a key political role in the current political dispensation. He has been doing the president’s bidding and it is even reported that he has been doing Chantal Biya’s dirty jobs in a brutal succession battle that will leave many bruised and bowed.

Mr. Biya recognizes Ngoh Ngoh’s loyalty to him and his wife, but his constant presence at the Presidency during an election year could be a liability to the ruling CPDM which has been struggling with image-related issues.

The CPDM is not a popular party and many Cameroonians hold that once Biya leaves the political scene, the party will dissolve as it is held responsible for all the issues which have dogged the nation for 42 years.

Sources close to President Biya have informed the Cameroon Concord News that Ngoh Ngoh will replace Lejeune Mbella Mbella who is neither young nor effective at the Ministry of Foreign affairs as a means of taking him away from Mr. Biya’s inner circle.

Lejeune Mbella Mbella, for his part, is staring down the barrel of retirement as he is really tired and retirement-worthy.

Meanwhile Louis Paul Motaze who has been in the spotlight recently for all the wrong reasons could be heading to the Kondengui Maximum Security Prison as the Sword of Damocles hangs over his head. It is rumored that his girlfriend is involved in some misappropriation scandals within the Ministry of Finance, especially the one involving Amougou Belinga.

According to the same CPDM sources, Ketcha Courtes also known as “Il y avait quoi avant” will be elbowed out of the Ministry of Social Affairs. Members of Biya’s inner circle are looking for someone from the Grand North to replace Courtes.

The Grand North is disappointed with the Biya regime which it has supported for decades. The north currently has no good road infrastructure and the economic crisis, which has hit the country like lightning, has caused many northerners to doubt Mr. Biya’s serious and sincerity in developing the Grand North which is the home of the country’s first president.

The sources also reported that Abba Sadou would head a ministry, probably the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, as a means of demonstrating to northerners that President Biya takes them seriously.

Like Lejeune Mbella Mbella, the oldest minister in service, Mbarga Nguele, will leave the government to deal with his old age related issues. Also,  Ayang Luc who has been the president of the Economic and Social Council for decades will be replaced by Beti Assomo who is grappling with serious health issues.

The greatest news will be the creation of the post of  Vice-President and this implies Biya will name his successor. The post of Prime Minister will be abolished to avoid duplication and conflicts.

But Biya’s current focus is on bringing new blood to the National Assembly and the Senate. The ruling CPDM is looking to bring in youthful faces to these legislative bodies and sources close to the Central Committee of the CPDM have reported that the President is insisting on having some members of the country’s Diaspora into the political landscape as a way of reducing tensions between the government and the Diaspora.

The sources said that many law-makers who are above 80 years might not be brought back to the National Assembly and the Senate. The president, it is said, is dissatisfied with many members of the legislative bodies as the grassroots are grumbling that their fate has not changed over the last ten years.

The sources added that there were still many serious issues to be dealt with, suggesting that the vice-president should be an Anglophone from the moderate Southwest region which believes in a united and indivisible Cameroon; a suggestion which does not sit well with Cameroon’s French-speaking politicians.

There is a lot of pressure in Yaoundé as many ministers are aware that the president is preparing a new cabinet. The usual lobbying has been intensified and the below-the-belt punches have increased.

Cameroon is at the crossroads and if prompt and correct decisions are not made, the country, which is slowly sliding into chaos, could become another failed state in the months ahead.

President Biya is aware of his mortality and he understands that at 92, anything can happen. 92 years is his age on paper and nobody knows his real age. When he was born, there were no birth registries in Cameroon and from the way he looks, it is obvious that he is older than 92 years.

With a lot of pressure coming from the West and the clergy, Biya understands that it is time to get a successor before things fall apart. He is old and his mental capacity has been diminished by age and the burden of responsibility and guilt he has carried for decades. There is no better time than now for him to do the right thing.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai