It is two years to the next presidential election in Cameroon. Following the situation in Gabon, many national and international political observers are now seeking to know what President Biya will do come 2018. Several pro-Biya comedians and political acolytes have made calls for the Cameroonian dictator to run for president in 2018. We of this publication understand President Biya will take the risk even though he is currently sending out false signals that he needs more time to reflect on it.

Unlike leaders of the opposition whose political discourse is still focus on persons and ethnicity, Mr Biya to be candid has something to sell to the Cameroonian people.  Biya has defied his critics by constructing and commissioning a brand new and fully equipped sea port in Kribi. The gigantic hydroelectric dam located at Memve’ele and the water retention at Lom Pangar that the head of state promised will provide cheap and constant energy supply to the Cameroonian people will all be completed soon.

The Limbe International football stadium has gone operational and is currently staging international football matches. Correspondingly, Cameroon will soon host the Female Africa Cup of Nations. President Biya it could be argued has provided responsible leadership in combating huge security challenges posed by the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram and the many rebel incursions from the Central African Republic. Slowly but surely, Boko Haram is soon going to be a thing of the past and CAR is emerging once again as stable nation.

By embracing the Chinese, Biya and his government have developed our public health system with many ultra-modern hospitals now being constructed throughout the national territory. In a generation that has too little for too many, the Cameroonian public service and the private sector have been providing thousands of category A2 jobs for young people. Biya has partnered with the Bollore Group and our trains and the Douala port are becoming more efficient.

President Biya’s management of the war against corruption, though sometimes selective has been remarkable. Those who work for the country are now getting the attention that they deserve and those who work for their pockets are being arrested every day. The VIP treatment he has accorded the military families whose loved ones were killed in the Far North has been commendable. His Back-To-School Fund for these families is something that the nation will never forget. We salute the interest and huge financial injection made by Mr Biya to the people of the Bakassi Peninsular.

Development in the country is very slow and in some areas non-existent. But the many things, a few of which we have listed here actually makes President Biya a visionary statesman who has big plans for his people. We of the Cameroon Concord News Group believe and fervently too that Biya will once again ask Cameroonians for another seven year mandate. It will be bad for Cameroon as a nation but good for a peaceful transition of power.

The dynamics of the Cameroonian economy since 2010, the year in which the ruling CPDM party started the implementation of GESP (Strategic Policy for Growth and Employment) has been more effective and is driven by structural 21^st century generation projects which show massive increase in the level of public investment and its positive effects on the private sector. With an opposition that exist only on paper, and with some few fighting to collect huge sums of money as parliamentary expenses, a majority of the Cameroonian people have been left with no other option than to stand with the 83 year old leader. Biya will win in 2018.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai

Write back via soteragbawebai@gmail.com