Biya Heightens Rumours About Chantal’s Whereabouts!

At 11^th CEMAC Summit:

- Cameroon Emerges Loser In Allocation of Positions

By Yussuf Sariki

President Paul Biya may not have traveled to Brazzaville, Congo, for the 11^th Summit of Heads of State of the Central African Economic and Monetary Community, CEMAC. But when the Congolese President, Denis Sassou Nguesso dispatched an envoy to Yaounde a fortnight ago, the Cameroon President had no option. Isidore Mvouba, a Congolese Minister of State handed a sealed envelop to Prime Minister Philemon Yang, who thereon transmitted to Biya. His departure last Tuesday July 24, intensified rumours about the whereabouts of his wife. Chantal was neither at the airport nor was she in Congo. Biya himself attended a summit during which Cameroon reaped paltry positions in the distribution of functions. Worse still Antoine Ntsimi was replaced by a Congolese as the CEMAC executive commission president.

The news on every lip in Yaounde was that Biya was in Congo without Chantal Biya! The First Lady’s absence, was first witnessed last May 20, when she was neither at the May 20 Boulevard, nor at the reception at the Unity Palace, the same evening.

It is believed that it is because of Chantal’s whereabouts that President Biya was unable to undertake the recent trip to China, where African leaders with close ties with China, met in conclave; Also Biya was not at the last African Union, AU Summit at Addis Ababa which saw the ousting of Jean Ping as the AU Commission President. Instead, it was the South African Dladimi Zuma, elected. And though Biya was not there, he had since extended a message of congratulation to the South African.

Cameroonians have been worried about the whereabouts of their first lady. This has provoked a cacophony with rumour mongers dishing out their own outlandish tales. Yet, aware about the worries of Cameroonians, the civil cabinet at the presidency has been mute about making a clarification. This is what has aggravated the state of rumour.

President Biya’s departure last week to Congo without Chantal gave another avenue for rumour mongers to create tales. While some suspect that she could be pregnant and decided to avoid public view, others allege that she fell from a horse and has been on crutches and has been recovering. Yet, a presidential insider hinted Chronicle that knowing about Chantal’s whereabouts would tantamount to intrusion into the privacy of the head of state.

Biya returned from Congo last Friday. Critics say he was persuaded by President Sassou to see how Antoine Ntsimi would be replaced by Pierre Moussa a Congolese as the Executive President of the CEMAC Commission. The consoling aspect is that Ntsimi’s 5 years mandate had elapsed. Yet, in the other positions distributed, Cameroon was negated.

The 11^th summit of CEMAC heads of state looked at the issue of Air-CEMAC, identifying Air France as a strategic partner, free circulation (the CEMAC passport) and governance.

On the distribution of portfolios, Cameroon lost the President of the Commission to Congo; vice president of BEAC went to Central African Republic. Out of the 20 portfolios, Cameroon was only accorded 3: the inconsequential portfolios of Assistant Secretary General of the Central African bank commission; permanent secretary of Groupe D’Action Contre le Blanchiment d’Argent en Afrique Centrale; and Director General of ASSA-AC.

One outstanding billing of Biya’s presence in Congo was the fact that he granted an exclusive interview to both the Congolese television and CRTV. In it Biya acclaimed the staging of the summit, which he described as landmark, giving the resolutions that they arrived at.

It is rare for all six CEMAC leaders to attend a summit. Congo scored high points for having brought Presidents Biya, Oma Bongo of Gabon, Idriss Derby of Chad, Theodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea and Francis Bouzizi of the Central African Republic together.

President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon was elected as the next CEMAC President. Implicitly, the next head of state summit will be hosted by/in Gabon. With the absence of Chantal, the euphoria created with the presence of First Ladies was unheard of. It is even unknown whether the other heads of state came with their spouses.

Chantal had since stood as a role model to the other wives of the heads of state. It is believed that because of her regular public outings with her husband President Biya, other heads of state emulated same. A clique grouping the wives of heads of state had since been curved out, probably because of Chantal.