Cameroon's president, Paul Biya,
has been in power for four decades. Photo: Marco Longari/AFP
On 14 July 2025, Paul Biya, Cameroon’s 91-year-old president, announced his intention to run for another term. After more than four decades in power, the announcement comes as no surprise but it requires urgent political action. Biya’s decision reveals a much deeper crisis: the erosion of democracy and the failure of regional mechanisms to defend democratic norms in Africa.
Failure to confront this moment will also teach Africa’s youth that formal politics offers neither accountability nor meaningful change.
Cameroon has not experienced a peaceful transfer of power since independence. Power remains concentrated in the presidency, while opposition parties are suppressed through legal, financial, and physical constraints. Elections are held, but the outcomes are rarely in doubt, as the incumbent benefits from a heavily skewed playing field that undermines genuine competition.
The judiciary is subordinate to the executive and electoral bodies lack credibility. The system has grown accustomed to continuity rather than contestation and, over time, democracy has been reduced to a set of controlled rituals rather than a functioning political culture.
Biya’s extended rule is not just a national problem. It reflects a regional weakness. Over the years, organisations such as the African Union and Central African regional bodies have failed to take meaningful action on cases of long-term incumbency, especially where elections proceed without outright violence.
The quiet tolerance of indefinite leadership has allowed authoritarianism to be dressed in the language of legality. The AU’s Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance calls for term limits, transparent elections, and citizen participation, but its enforcement has been weak and inconsistent. This failure emboldens leaders to stay in power indefinitely, knowing that the risk of regional sanction is low and the benefits of incumbency remain high.
Within Cameroon, the consequences of this political stagnation are clear. The conflict in the Anglophone regions remains unresolved, with thousands displaced and ongoing reports of violence. State responses have relied on force and token gestures of engagement. A lasting solution requires a shift towards genuine political dialogue that includes local voices and acknowledges the historical and structural roots of the crisis. Without that, the cycle of violence will persist.
Decentralisation, long promised but never fully delivered, must also be addressed. The country remains one of the most centralised in Africa, with local governments underfunded and politically weak. Meaningful decentralisation would empower communities and signal a commitment to democratic reform. It would reverse the long-standing exclusion of peripheral regions from national decision-making.
Electoral reform is another urgent priority. Public confidence in the electoral process is low, with allegations of fraud, media bias and voter intimidation common in each election cycle. If elections are to serve as more than a legitimising tool for incumbents, they must be grounded in fairness, transparency and institutional independence. This will require a review of the legal framework, the composition of the electoral commission and equal access to campaign platforms.
Biya’s continued presence in power highlights a broader generational crisis in African politics. Leadership is dominated by ageing elites, while the continent’s youthful majority is sidelined. In Cameroon, many young people have only ever known one president. Their exclusion from governance is not just symbolic; it has practical consequences for political legitimacy, innovation and long-term development.
When young citizens do not see themselves reflected in leadership, they disengage, emigrate or, in some cases, mobilise through informal or radical means. Any vision for democratic renewal must include the deliberate inclusion of youth in decision-making spaces, not as tokens, but as central actors in shaping the country’s future.
None of these reforms can succeed in isolation from economic renewal. Cameroon’s youth, who make up 60% of the population, face high unemployment and limited social mobility. Many are disconnected from political life because they see no material benefits from participation. Without investment in education, entrepreneurship, and inclusive development, democratic reforms will remain symbolic. Political legitimacy must be supported by economic justice.
Cameroon’s crisis cannot be addressed through surface reforms or another tightly controlled election.
If there is to be a turning point, regional actors must take responsibility. The AU and other African leaders should not view Biya’s decision as an isolated national matter, but as part of a broader pattern that threatens the continent’s commitment to inclusive political governance. Silence in the face of democratic decline is not neutral. It is a form of complicity. African institutions must be prepared to act when those in power no longer serve the people or uphold democratic norms.
Biya’s candidacy is not simply a continuation of the past. It is a warning about the future.
Helen C Folefac and Tinashe Sithole are post doctoral research fellows at the SARChI Chair African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy at the University of Johannesburg.