Ministers Fame Ndongo and Gregoire Owona have reassured Cameroonians about the health of President Paul Biya, 91, and expressed anger at those who announced the demise of the ailing dictator, Cameroon Radio and Television reported on Tuesday after Prime Minister Dion Ngute reportedly cancelled the weekly cabinet meeting.

Cameroon Concord News reported that President Paul Biya had a prostate operation and the dictator is bedridden at the Percy Army Training Hospital known in French as the Hôpital National D’instruction Des Armées Percy located at 2 Rue Lieutenant Raoul, Batamy, 92140 Clamart, France.

Biya has been in power since 1982 and his Francophone dominated government has for years sought to quell speculation over his health.

Last week the presidency disclosed that he was sick and undergoing medical treatment in Paris or Geneva but no one deep within government circle is saying whether he has recovered.

Paul Biya has not been seen in public since leaving Beijing on 8 September after attending the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC).

His time as head of state has been marked by empty ambitious social and economic programs largely managed by corrupt political elites from his Beti-Bulu tribal extraction, many of whom are trying to position themselves as Cameroon’s next head of state.

For 42 years, Biya has also overseen an intense crackdown on dissent that analysts say has helped him consolidate power.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai