ONE of the greatest ironies of Africa’s fragile democracy is that many of its oldest politicians still cling to power. Despite advanced age and diminishing capacity, they manipulate weak institutions, bend constitutions and exploit state machinery to prolong their grip on office.
Cameroon is the latest example. Since June 7, 2026, the 93-year-old President Paul Biya has been out of the country on what the presidency described as a brief private stay in Europe, reportedly in a Swiss hospice.
Ironically, this has turned out to be his longest known stay abroad since assuming office in November 1982. Biya is the world’s oldest serving head of state and Africa’s second-longest-serving president.
His prolonged absence has fuelled intense speculation about his health. Yet, amid growing political uncertainty, the ruling party and government officials insist that the state is functioning normally and that the president is governing remotely.
This refrain is all too
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