Paul Biya
Paul Biya (born Paul Barthélemy Biya'a bi Mvondo; 13 February 1933) is a Cameroonian politician who is the second president of Cameroon since 6 November 1982, having previously been the prime minister of Cameroon from 1975 to 1982.[1][2] He is the second-longest-ruling president in Africa, the longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world and the oldest head of state in the world. He is regarded as an authoritarian leader and a dictator.
Paul Biya
A native of Cameroon's south, Biya rose rapidly as a bureaucrat under President Ahmadou Ahidjo in the 1960s, as Secretary-General of the Presidency from 1968 to 1975 and then as Prime Minister. He succeeded Ahidjo as President upon the latter's surprise resignation in 1982 and consolidated power in a 1983–1984 staged attempted coup in which he eliminated all of his major rivals.[3]
Biya introduced political reforms within the context of a one-party system in the 1980s, later accepting the introduction of multiparty politics in the early 1990s under serious pressure. He won the contentious 1992 presidential election with 40% of the plural, single-ballot vote and was re-elected by large margins in 1997, 2004, 2011, and 2018. Opposition politicians and Western governments have alleged voting irregularities and fraud on each of these occasions. Multiple sources have provided evidence that he did not win the elections in 1992[4][5][6] and the political opposition along with others have alleged subsequent elections suffered from rampant fraud.[7][8][9]
Early life and education[edit]
Paul Biya was born in the village of Mvomeka'a[1][2] in what is now the South Region of Cameroon. He studied at the Lycée General Leclerc, Yaoundé, and in France at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris, going on to the Institut des hautes études d'Outre-Mer, where he graduated in 1961 with a higher education diploma in public law.[10]
Presidency: 1982–present[edit]
Rise to prominence and forward[edit]
As a Chargé de Mission in post-independence 1960s Cameroon, [11] Biya rose to prominence under President Ahmadou Ahidjo. After becoming director of the Cabinet of the minister of national education in January 1964 and secretary-general of the ministry of national education in July 1965, he was named director of the civil cabinet of the president in December 1967 and secretary-general of the presidency (while remaining director of the civil cabinet) in January 1968. He gained the rank of minister in August 1968 and the rank of minister of state in June 1970, while remaining secretary-general of the presidency. Following the creation of a unitary state in 1972, he became Prime Minister of Cameroon on 30 June 1975. In June 1979, a new law designated the prime minister as the president's constitutional successor. Ahidjo unexpectedly announced his resignation on 4 November 1982, and Biya accordingly succeeded him as president of Cameroon on 6 November.[1][2]
Because Biya is a Christian from the southern region of Cameroon, it was considered surprising that he was chosen by Ahidjo, a Muslim from the north, as his successor. Biya's[12] father, who was a catechist, wanted him to join the clergy, but at the age of 16 while in Catholic school, he was expelled. After Biya became President, Ahidjo initially remained head of the ruling Cameroon National Union (CNU/ UNC). Biya was brought into the CNU Central Committee and Political Bureau and was elected as the Vice-President of the CNU.[13] On 11 December 1982, he was placed in charge of managing party affairs in Ahidjo's absence. During the first months after Biya's succession, he continued to show loyalty to Ahidjo, and Ahidjo continued to show support for Biya, but in 1983 a deep rift developed between the two. Ahidjo went into exile in France, and from there he publicly accused Biya of abuse of power and paranoia about plots against him. After Ahidjo resigned as CNU leader, Biya took the helm of the party at an "extraordinary session" of the CNU party held on 14 September 1983.[14]
Personal life[edit]
Biya became a naturalized citizen of France when he studied there, but he later relinquished his French citizenship when he returned to Cameroon to serve in government positions.
In 1961, he married Jeanne-Irène Biya, who did not have any children, though she adopted Franck Biya, who had been born in 1971 from a relationship between Biya and Jeanne-Irène's sister[88] or niece.[89][13] Franck Biya is seen as a possible successor of his father in the context of presidential elections scheduled for 2025.[90][91]
Jeanne-Irène Biya died on 29 July 1992 after a short illness while Paul Biya was attending a conference abroad. Rumors have it that she and a number of people close to her did not die of natural causes.[92][89]
Paul Biya married Chantal Vigouroux, who is 36 years his junior, on 23 April 1994,[2] and had two more children with her, Paul Jr. and Anastasia Brenda.