For two months running the First Lady has
not been seen in public either in Cameroon or abroad. Sources say she is out in
California to provide motherly care to her daughter, Brenda Anastasie, who has
allegedly embraced drug taking.
By EssanEkoninyam in Yaounde
 |
| Chantal Biya |
It is two months now since first lady
Chantal Biya was last seen in public. After she accompanied her husband,
President Paul Biya, to Nigeria during his 48-hour state visit of 3 – 4 May
2016, she was again seen, this time in Cameroon, on 6 May. Since then, no one
has eyed the first lady in public again. When it was announced last 25 May that
the President was back in the country after a “brief” 28-day private visit to
Europe, everyone watching the state-controlled Cameroon Radio Television
expected to see him descend from the plane with his better half, as usual. However, that was not to be. President Biya
was alone, all alone!
Cameroonians
are used to seeing Chantal Biya beside her husband in public ceremonies, but
this has not been the case within the past two months. She did not even
accompany the President to Nigeria during his second successive visit to that
country during which he took part in a summit meant for the fight against Boko
Haram. Even after President Biya returned to Yaounde and attended the
international economic conference that took place at the conference centre on
17 and 18 May, she was not by his side.
Two
days after the end of that event, came the National Day march past at the 20th
May Boulevard in Yaounde. Once again, Chantal, who on such an occasion habitually
sits to her husband’s left at the grandstand, even without any clearly defined
status, was nowhere to be found. Neither was she by him on the night of 20 May
during the traditional guests reception event at Unity Palace.
The Brenda factor
So
where really has Chantal disappeared to? Sources say she travelled to
California in the US to provide motherly care to her daughter, Brenda Biya, who
is reportedly not in good health. The same sources hold that the young woman
has transformed herself of late into an irretrievable drug addict.
The
photo of Brenda and her mother, in which she looks hale and hearty and calls
her mother “android mother”, which is currently being circulated on the
internet, is said to be used by the presidential family to give the impression
that there is nothing wrong with Brenda.
The
Median has further learned that President Biya’s daughter’s situation is so
precarious that she had to be flown to Geneva, Switzerland while her father was
there on a private visit. The reason was for him to talk her out of her
newfound waywardness and notorious drug addiction. If all of this is true, then
the possibility that Brenda has come out of the snag is slim, given that
Chantal is still out of the country.
Chantal’s second disappearance
This
is the second time the first lady is disappearing from public view. The first
time she did was in 2012 when she was away for six long months. On 20 May of
that year, she was out of sight. She was not even by her husband’s side prior
to that event while the President was laying the foundation stone of the
LomPangar dam in the East region.
On that occasion, a courageous female
journalist asked the President where his wife was, and he promised bringing her
back to Cameroon. A thing he did on 10 September 2012, that is, six months
after Chantal had disappeared in thin air.
A
majority of Cameroonians who talked to this newspaper, expressed the desire to
see the First Lady back home as soon as possible. They described her as an
element of physical and moral stability to her husband, especially at a time
when he has many challenges before him, such as the preparation of a CPDM
congress, the coming presidential election (anticipated or not), the fight
against Boko Haram which attacked and killed eleven Cameroonians again recently
in Limani, just to mention these.
No comments:
Post a Comment