Biya To Hand Power To René Sadi, Writes Pro-Biya International French Magazine

Who succeeds Biya or who is President Paul Biya grooming to succeed him has been questions of serious national and international polemics. These questions which are at the same time considered by some Cameroonians as taboo because they argue that nobody discusses about the succession of a chief when he is still alive are at the same time very pertinent to the point of polarizing Cameroon. People are divided as to where power should go after Paul Biya. Some are arguing wrongly or rightly that Paul Biya should return power to the Nordistes, as Amadou Ahidjo, a Nordiste handed power to him and he has ruled for 30 years. Those who hold this opinion, especially the Nordistes argue that Biya a Beti from the South was preferred to a Nordiste by Ahidjo and Biya should reciprocate this gesture. They even add that a tacit agreement was arrived at by Ahidjo/Biya to oscillate power between the South and the North. However, other ethnic groups and cultural groups have become very interested in ruling Cameroon and the supposedly unwritten agreement between the north and the south does no longer hold any pertinence. Across the divide, each group is trying to pull the blanket to its own side, yet Paul Biya remains the sole actor to answer these questions. Is the name of René Emmanuel Sadi, current Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralization that is being propagated by national and international media going to be the person President Paul Biya will hand the mantle of power to? The Pan African newsmagazine, Jeune Afrique considered a pro-Biya news magazine seems to answer this question in the affirmative.

Jeune Afrique in its edition No. 2683 carried a front page banner story on Cameroon with René Emmanuel Sadi’s picture on the front page with the headline, “Cameroun. Et si c’etait lui….” This French phrase roughly translated into English means “Cameroon. And if it were him…” To most Cameroonians this is a sure indication that President Paul Biya intends to hand over power to René Emmanuel Sadi, another Beti and not to the Anglophones or the Nordistes as many have been thinking loudly. This is so as Jeune Afrique does not end at placing a lucid picture of René Sadi on the front page but have written an article that projects him and gives pertinent reasons why he is the best choice to succeed President Paul Biya or why President Paul Biya should hand over power to him. Many Cameroonians who have read Jeune Afrique have already seen the hand writing clear on the wall, given that Jeune Afrique is considered a pro-Biya news magazine and has given clues to many things that have later happened in Cameroon. It is variously considered as an official voice of President Paul Biya, or a tribune where President Paul Biya addresses some burning issues in his country.

Jeune Afrique’s article on René Emmanuel Sadi is very telling. In the article Jeune Afrique indicates that René Emmanuel Sadi has spent close to two decades in the corridors of power in the Presidency of the Republic and knows fully well how the state machinery functions. It adds that in 2007, René Emanuel Sadi became the epicentre of the political game in Cameroon as President Paul Biya catapulted him to the position of Secretary General of the ruling CPDM party. Jeune Afrique intimates that the act by President Paul Biya to appoint René Sadi to the post of Secretary General of the ruling CPDM and not any other front line militant was to position him and prepare him for the helm of the state. It argues that after spending close to twenty years in the Presidency, René Sadi already knew how the Presidency functions but had to be groomed on how the party functions, reasons why he was appointed as Secretary General of the CPDM so that he could sufficiently acquaint himself with the functioning of the party. Jeune Afrique indicates that President Paul Biya realised that after Sadi’s appointment as Secretary General of the CPDM, many of Sadi’s detractors wanted his head. The pro-Biya French news magazine reveals that those who wanted Sadi’s head were equally those who wanted to succeed Biya at the helm of the state and thus did not want to see somebody that curried the favours of Biya. And that to further prepare him to assume his functions as Head of State after him, President Paul Biya appointed René Emmanuel Sadi to the coveted post of Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation in a bid for him to have a firm grip of the entire territory and it’s functioning.

However, Jeune Afrique tries to throw a nuance in the article by asking whether President Paul Biya is actually preparing René Sadi given that Biya is always discreet in all his moves and surprises everybody including his closest collaborators? Many Cameroonians posit that the article about René Emmanuel Sadi published in pro- Biya French news magazine, Jeune Afrique is aimed at preparing public opinion so that when Biya finally hands over power to Sadi it should not raise eyebrows. Those supporting this thesis argue that President Paul Biya has a history of always preparing public opinion through the media before taking serious decisions. And that the article in Jeune Afrique is a serious pointer given that before Marafa Hamidou Yaya was arrested on April 16, 2012, the same Jeune Afrique consecrated close to two pages of space talking about Marafa Hamidou Yaya the purported successor of Paul Biya who was in trouble waters. A few weeks after the publication of that article, Marafa was arrested by the Biya regime and thrown in jail on charges of embezzlement and corruption. Political analysts posit that Marafa Hamidou Yaya as Minister of Territorial Administration and Decentralisation already saw himself as a legitimate successor of Biya and throwing him in jail and replacing him with Sadi was not only to show that he was not any successor but that Sadi was the man to be.

It should be noted that before the cabinet shake up that flushed Marafa Hamidou Yaya from government, public opinion swayed in favour of him as Biya’s successor. Yet many people thought that it was going to be Amadou Ali, if Biya had to return power to the Nordistes. This assumption even generated in fighting amongst the Nordistes as each of them struggled to position self favourably. But the December 9 cabinet shake-up put a permanent end to most of the assumptions as both the purported Biya successor, Marafa Hamidou Yaya was flushed from government and his rival, Amadou Ali reduced to a lesser portfolio. Things became clearer that President Paul Biya was not ready to give back power to any other group as he brought members of the Beti clan nearer power and kept the others at a distance.