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The 85-year-old Cameroonian president Paul Biya, seeking a seventh term on Sunday, has come up with an effective system to stay in power despite prolonged absences abroad.
One of the oldest African leaders, he has taken up residence at Etoudi's presidential palace in Yaoundé since 1982.
"Those who want power do not last, they are the ones who can (govern)," he told reporters in 2015, making a rare remark about his long years as head of Cameroon.
He also warned once against his vast powers, saying to a Cameroonian journalist in 1986: "Just a little jerk of the head and you will be reduced to nothing."
One aspect of his mandate is the "subtle balance of power" created by Biya, in a region where leadership changes are often accompanied by force, according to Hans de Marie Heungoup of the International Crisis Group. (ICG).
The Cameroonian system was "designed in such a way that everyone self-controls and maintains intergenerational and ethnic rivalries," said Heungoup.
"No one can move an active unit (security forces) without the agreement of the president," he added, stressing the importance of balance between the regular army, the rapid intervention force and presidential guard – the last two who report directly to the president.
The president's appointment of loyalists to key positions also ensured his enduring authority.
– & # 39; You're going to be crushed & # 39; –
The president of the National Assembly, the chief of the army and the head of the state-run oil and gas company are all confidants of the president and have been in office for more than 15 years.
The system has been reinforced by "a mixture of resigned acceptance and favoritism among some elite leaders who are mobilizing behind the regime," said Fred Eboko, a researcher at the French Institute of Research and Development. development (IRD).
Biya, a Christian of southern Cameroon, was born on February 2, 1933 in a peasant family of a village located 220 km south of the capital Yaoundé.
The former seminarian studied law in France before occupying an important position in the government on his return home in 1962.
He was appointed prime minister in 1975, but the way he was appointed to succeed Cameroon's founding president, Amadou Ahidjo, in November 1982, remains a mystery.
Unlike his more ferocious and flamboyant peers in the club of long-time African leaders, Biya – nicknamed "the Sphinx" – is a discreet autocrat. He allowed multiparty politics in the early 1990s, paving the way for strong political opposition from the English-speaking West.
"The system is built on one person and this person is identified at work," said Titus Edzoa, former confidant of the president and secretary general of the Biya presidency from 1994 to 1996, who has held several ministerial positions.
"If you try to fight Biya, you'll be crushed," he said.
– "In power for 35 years … it's talented" –
Edzoa should know. After resigning as Minister of Health in 1997 to run for office, he was arrested and charged with stealing millions of CFA francs. He spent 15 years behind bars.
Becoming a free man, he warns that by centering the system on Biya's personality, "not only could the system implode, but also the whole of Cameroon" in the near future.
Oswald Baboke, deputy director of the presidency, wrote in a book published in September that "the fate of Biya seemed predetermined" and "an opportunity offered by God".
The Minister of Higher Education, Jacques Fame Ndongo, said: "We are all creatures and creations of President Paul Biya … we are his servants, or even better his slaves."
The long repeated absences of Biya in Cameroon, mainly in Switzerland or in her native village in southern Cameroon, have been strongly criticized.
According to the Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Organized Crime and Corruption Project (OCCRP), Biya has devoted "at least four and a half years of his 35 years of power to private tours" at the time. foreign.
Cameroonian President Paul Biya, seen here with his wife Chantal, is dubbed "the Sphinx".
Biya, one of the oldest African leaders, reigns with an iron fist
