Seven years and counting as PM:

Seven reasons why Philemon Yang might stay even longer

Appointed to the Star Building on 30 June 2009, Philemon Yang hit his 7th year as PM on Thursday, 30 June 2016. Indications are that he will stay much longer, why not!

By Ojong Steven Ayukogem in Yaounde

Philemon Yang

Philemon Yunji Yang made seven years as Prime Minister on Thursday 30 June 2016. He became PM on 30 June 2009, after serving for five years as ASG of the presidency.

                Even before he was brought to the presidency, Philemon Yang was the Ambassador of Cameroon to Canada for over 19 years. He had also served as minister under Ahidjo and Biya.

                From the brief career profile presented above, there is no doubt that Philemon Yang is in many ways and by every means, a regime insider.

                For a regime that is understood not to be particularly enthusiastic about Anglophones, Yang had the rare opportunity to be among Biya’s privilege allies from the very beginning of his career. It should be recalled that as a young magistrate from Enam, Yang was appointed minister in 1975. It was that same year and in that same government that Biya was appointed as the Prime Minister by Ahidjo. So the two personalities know themselves only too well and have maintained their alliance until today.

                Though some skeptics doubted Philemon Yang’s leadership qualities and what he really stood for at the time he was appointed PM in 2009, today the towering but soft-spoken and affable son of Oku, in Bui division of the North West region, has made himself more understood.

                If Philemon Yang was considered a gamble at first, it was because of his discreteness. As ASG of the presidency, Yang hardly made a public pronouncement on any issue. You hardly heard him any where or even saw him in public. Among NW elite he was also hardly considered a leader, and he did not struggle to position himself as such.

                However, slowly but surely, Philemon Yang has finally positioned himself as the unquestionable leader of politics in the NW. Very quietly he has consolidated his leadership and has succeeded to gain in amiability and acceptability both in his native North West region and even beyond.

                But if Yang has consolidated his grip on power, it is more at the star building as PM. Considered at first as too “White Manish” to be PM of Cameroon, Yang has gradually made himself clear about what he stands for – respect for the law and the law only.

                Philemon Yang is also credited for being an exceptionally punctual and workaholic Prime Minister who comes to office every day at 7.30 a.m and only leaves at 8.00 p.m.

                What’s more, Yang is not only said to be very level-headed he has also succeeded to avoid controversy and politics of confrontation. Apart from these, Yang has also succeeded to keep himself away from all corruption dossiers at the star building. It is said that he directs all files that have to do with dirty money to his secretary general.

                Yet, even as many see this ‘cleanliness’ of Yang as a virtue, his brothers from the North West region have not stopped criticizing him for wasting a golden opportunity for them to also ‘chop’. Some even interpret it to mean weakness. With his very formidable strength of character, Yang has refused to yield to the temptations his brothers are pushing him into.

                Because Yang believes in the supremacy of the law, he has also always kept his calm even when he is provoked. This is because he know that he would be vindicated by time and the law. That is why when some of his subordinates like Ama Tutu Muna, Louis Paul Motaze and EssimiMenye have frontally challenged his authority, he remained calm, leaving the umpire, Paul Biya, to judge. And of course, he emerged vindicated after all. 

                So, after defeating all those recalcitrant collaborators who tried to undermine his authority, Yang has emerged even more powerful and more confident of himself and his authority. Even though, observers still maintain that the preponderance of the SG of the presidency over the PM’s Office still poses a problem.

                Then with Prof. Peter AgborTabi, the late ASG of the presidency, who did not hide his ambition to replace Yang, of blessed memory, it is believed that Biya will take more time to find another candidate from among the Anglophones as replacement for Yang, that is when the time is right. And this only means a prolongation of Yang’s stay at the Star Building. Is it not saidthat; “les Malheurs des autres font le Bonheur des autres?”

                It is however, worthy of mention that Yang had at some point told his boss Paul Biya, that he was tired and would like to be relieved. He evoked heath concerns at the time. But his boss Biya did not let him go.

                This is because in the exercise of his absolute powers as head of state, Paul Biya never lets his appointees to do what they like and when they like. So, Yang will only go when Biya wants him to go – And that will surely not be very soon. Long live the very honorable PM!