Cameroon 2025: Broadcaster Suspended After Questioning Biya’s Candidacy on Air

According to an internal memo dated 1 August (Note d’information 007/2025) and seen by Cameroon Concord, Fenou was pulled from “all activities within the Tropical Group” for what the station called a “serious breach” of house rules. Programming has been reshuffled: Sandra Bakam and Raïssa Ndia will co-host Fenou’s morning slot, while Kevin Djeukeu takes over the daily press review.

When a 92-year-old president confirms—again—that he alone can pilot the nation, and broadcasters are punished simply for asking if the Constitutional Council should bar him from the ballot, it is clear that Cameroon is living through the last, most corrosive phase of a very long reign. President Paul Biya’s 13 July declaration that he will seek an eighth mandate this October has turned the 2025 campaign into a referendum on a system that survives by personality cult, systemic graft and fear. Reuters

Last week’s suspension of radio host Patrick Fenou—pulled from the air after he questioned Biya’s candidacy—illustrates the atmosphere: the smallest challenge draws swift reprisal, wages withheld, livelihoods threatened. Meanwhile, exiled journalist Michel Ngatchou faces a questionable “Interpol” notice and his wife sits in detention for the crime of being married to a critic. Cameroon Concord News These flashpoints are symptoms of deeper failures across seven fronts.

1. Cult of Personality & Ageing Leadership

Biya has governed since 1982; more than 60 percent of Cameroonians were born after he took office. State media fills the gap left by his frequent absences abroad with archival footage and adulatory talk shows, while ministers publicly proclaim themselves “Biyaiste.” Daring to imagine political renewal—let alone a post-Biya future—remains taboo. The resulting leadership vacuum fuels elite jockeying and policy paralysis.

2. Systemic Corruption & Impunity

Cameroon posts a 26/100 on Transparency International’s 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, ranking 140th of 180 countries—worse than several conflict zones. Transparency.org Covid-19 medical procurements disappeared into offshore accounts; a fresh audit reveals US $230 million missing from the National Hydrocarbons Corporation. Yet anti-graft drives rarely touch presidential confidants, and the Special Criminal Court functions more as a tool for settling intra-elite scores than for cleansing public life.

3. Failed Governance & Economic Stagnation

Official communiqués trumpet IMF-projected growth of 3.9 percent for 2024. IMF But that uptick is barely above population growth and is devoured by inflation, informal-sector under-employment and collapsing public services. Petrol queues snake through Douala, power cuts darken surgical theatres, and youth unemployment fuels a surge in outward migration toward Tunisia, São Paulo and perilous Atlantic routes.

4. Erosion of Democracy & Human Rights

The European Parliament in April condemned “structural violations” of journalists’ rights and threatened targeted sanctions. European Parliament Domestic watchdogs record rising cases of arbitrary detention, internet shutdowns and military-court trials for civilians. The Fenou affair signals that even private broadcasters now self-censor, fearing licence withdrawals or sudden tax inspections.

5. Anglophone Crisis & National Disunity

Nine years after lawyers and teachers first protested in Buea, the North-West and South-West remain war zones. More than 6,500 people have been killed, with over 330,000 internally displaced. Global Centre for R2P Both separatists and state forces commit atrocities, but Yaoundé still treats mediation offers as foreign meddling, preferring a military solution that bleeds the treasury and deepens communal mistrust.

6. Patronage & Elite Clientelism

June’s resignation of former cabinet heavyweight Issa Tchiroma Bakary—who will now run against his onetime patron—exposed cracks in the ruling coalition. Reuters Ministries and state-owned enterprises operate as revenue farms for loyalists; younger technocrats without patrons languish. Even inside the CPDM, activists complain that no party congress has occurred since 2011, and regional barons feud over dwindling spoils.

7. International Perception & Isolation

Partners are losing patience. The IMF has tied each disbursement to tighter public-financial management; Brussels hints at visa bans and asset freezes for rights-abusing officials. The World Press Freedom Index still classifies Cameroon as a “difficult” environment, ranking 131st of 180. Reporters Without Borders Foreign investors increasingly lump the country with other high-risk jurisdictions, citing opaque tenders and security threats.

A Tipping-Point Election

October’s vote should be an orderly contest of ideas. Instead, it is shaping up as a stress test of Cameroon’s constitutional architecture. If courts can muzzle questions, media houses can silence presenters, and security forces can kidnap relatives, then the ballot box risks becoming theatre. History suggests that regimes entering their twilight often intensify repression, yet that very over-reach sows the seeds of their undoing.

Cameroon’s tragedy is not inevitable. The country still boasts an educated youth, fertile soils, and a strategic location bridging West and Central Africa. But unlocking that potential requires more than cosmetic reforms; it demands dismantling the structures of impunity that prop up an ageing autocrat.

Biya’s eighth bid is thus less about continuity than about the fear of accountability. If the ruling class will not initiate renewal, society may yet impose it—from city radio studios to the hills of Bamenda. The choice facing Cameroon in 2025 is stark: perpetual stagnation under a cult of personality, or the uncertain but necessary leap toward genuine republicanism. The clock, like the president’s term, is running out.