Exclusive interview:

I am not grooming a successor

- President Biya (the Sphinx)

                Mr. President you have hardly granted an interview for over 20 years of your reign. Because of your discreteness you have been named the Sphinx. And whenever you avail yourself to talk in public people listen with keen attention. That is why we cease this occasion of your visit to France to ask about your relations with President Sarkozy and your take about his views about Africa and France-Africa relations.

                Permit first of all to thank the President of France, Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy for the invitation he addressed to me to visit France. I must say that my first contact with him has been warm, cordial and deep. My first impressions about him are that of an accomplished politician who knows the problems of Africa. And I may also note will joy that he has indicated his readiness to continue the good relations between France and Cameroon.

               

President Biya

You just talked of continuity but we understand that President Sarkozy kind of incarnates a new tone, a new style in France-Cameroon relations. Can we not talk of a rupture in these relations?

                I think in my point of view, if there is any rupture it is more in the form but not in the depth. Perhaps the new French policy on Africa that is being elaborated may bring some changes. But overall, if there is rupture it is not yet formal and it is not yet noticeable. So we can only talk of continuity.

                What do you expect of France and of Nicolas Sarkozy in particular?

                We expect him to continue to listen to us. We expect him to continue the good friendly relations that exist between us, especially in the cultural (linguistic) domain. You know now that today there is talk of cultural or linguistic in imperialism. I think we need to preserve the areas of the world where French is spoken. France is a great nation; a permanent member of the UN Security Council whose opinion counts in issues affecting the entire world. So it can only be our hope and wish for there to be continuity in the good economic, financial and cultural relations with this great nation.

                You are considered as the dean of heads of state of Central Africa and even Africa at large. You are now in power for more than a quarter of a century. As one of he symbols of the France-Africa relations, do you think France has turned a page or is about turning a page in its relations with Africa?

                Like I said earlier, if there appears to be change it is may be in the form. But I think we will continue to concert. I think president Sarkozy wants to put more emphases on partnership and not paternalism. He wants Africans to say what they want from France and not the paternalistic approach where France decides what is good for Africa. I think he is looking at what we can do together and not what France can do for us.

                And I think this is what Africans themselves are looking up to in their relations with the West. I think President Sarkozy is a friend of Africa and that is why I have invited him to visit Cameroon. And it may interest you to note that he spontaneously accepted our invitation. So you can see why I talk of continuity in our relations.

                France has cancelled a great portion of its bilateral debt with Cameroon. This is in order to enable you to carry out important development projects in your country. What do you think about this?          

                You are very correct! Permit me to use this forum to thank President Sarkozy for this wonderful gesture of the cancellation of a huge chunk of our debts. In coded language we talk of the C2D. And like you said, not only has the debt been cancelled, we are now using the money to finance big construction projects especially in the areas of agriculture, health, education, infrastructure and this, in perfect liaison with France.

                President Sarkozy made a speech recently in Darkar, Senegal which some people judged as colonialist and racist. The South African president for his part said it was a good speech. What was your take on that speech?

                I think my opinion is not very different from that of the S.A president. I think he was simply trying to lay the foundation for a new trend in France-Africa relations. It was a speech that was addressed to the adults. What I could retain is that he wants Africans to break with the past; to break with the colonial mentality and to assume their responsibility. He wants Africans to think that they too can be the architects of their own destiny and to stop thinking that their destiny lies in the hands of donors from abroad. I think this a good thing.

                And talking about your political career, many mature Cameroonians have known only you as president. They know you as a discreet president who hardly grants interviews and who rules his country with iron hands. Do you recognize yourself in this portrait?

                Well, I think in part it corresponds with the reality. True, it is not in my habit to grant interviews, and I seldom grant interviews. However, I readily make speeches. If my speeches are compiled and published they will make many huge volumes of books. That notwithstanding, to me what is important is not what people think and say about you but rather what you do for your people. And you can see that things are changing and here am I giving an interview.

                Mr. President what do you think about the anti-corruption fight in your country.

                I must say that corruption as a social vice is not specific to Cameroon alone; it is a global phenomenon. However, we think that for a country like ours that does not boast enough resources, it is in our interest to fight and limit corruption and capital flight. And I must say we are determined to continue with this fight. So far we have not only carried out arrest of suspects and put them at the disposal of the courts, we have also put in place a number of structures notably ANIF, CONAC etc. to help us in this fight. And we are already having good results. For example ever since we began this anti-corruption campaign the revenue from the Douala port has improved enormously (by about 30-40%). I think this is interesting.

                What about those who think that Operation Epervier is a smokescreen?

                That is their opinion and they have a right to it. But I can assure you that with time they will realize that it is not a smokescreen. We have had very good results. Take for example the situation whereby the state was loosing huge sums as salaries to ghost workers – a situation whereby some people were collecting 3 or 4 different salaries. But today, thanks to the measures we have taken to cleanse the payroll, we have been able to recover several billions monthly. So you can see that Epervier falls in line with our policy to redress our economy. And we shall continue in this light in all the sectors of our economy. Another issue we want to focus on is the situation whereby investors who come to our country are asked by some officials to give kick-backs before their proposals can be endorsed. This is very discouraging to some of these investors. That is why we are looking forward to creating a one-stop-shop that will receive investors who want to come and invest in our country.

                But some people say you are using the anti-corruption fight to eliminate some young people who are eying your position?

                That is not true. I think the anti-corruption fight is very popular in the country. The population is in support of it. Even our foreign partners including notably France and the EU have encouraged us to go ahead with the fight. But I should say I am not naïve as to think that we will bring the level of corruption in our country to zero. But I think we can bring it down to an insignificant level that does not perturb our development.

                Do you plan to take it right to the end of your mandate?

                Even before the end of my mandate I think we would have had the desired results. In fact, we are already having good results. That is why we shall continue with the fight until we are satisfied that the level of corruption has become insignificant.

                Mr. President some 20 years ago many Cameroonians occupied important posts in international organizations. But today we observe a marked drop in this international presence of Cameroonians. How do you explain this and how do you plan to make good the lag? Also Cameroonian artistes and writers of international renown are veritable ambassadors of our rich and diversified culture. But unfortunately we have the impression that your government does not give these intellectuals their rightful place and this only engenders a sought of malaise. Why this situation and how do you plan to put a stop to this malaise? (Question asked by CalyxteBeyala)

                I will start with the question on artistes. I think I have appointed an artiste-Ferdinand Leopold Oyono as Minister of Arts and Culture. He is a talented writer who has many published works to his credit. We have also put in place measures to help artistes to get remuneration for the work they do, unlike before when it was cacophony. I think in the future we will accord more interest to that sector.

                Concerning Cameroonians in international positions, I don’t think we are egoistic as to think that we must occupy all the good positions all the times. There are candidates from other countries who also compete for these posts. And in a competition sometimes you win and other times you don’t win. And when you loose you be magnanimous enough to accept defeat and prepare for the next occasion.

                You have been in power for over 25 years. You have even survived a coup attempt. So for how long more do you plan to stay in power? Are you preparing a successor?

                I think that the idea of preparing a successor makes it look like we are a monarchy or an oligarchy. When the time shall come there will be candidates from amongst whom Cameroonians will choose. I think Cameroonians are mature enough and they will choose their new leader when the time is right.

                So you mean there is no successor?

                I don’t think that the word successor sounds good in a republic that is functioning well.

                Mr. President Cameroon just had joint Municipal/Legislative elections and observers talked of a high rate of abstention, about 15-20%. This corresponds to about 7-8% of the electoral potential of the country. Don’t you think a veritable national dialogue based on true reconciliation is imperative in Cameroon? with the repatriation of Ahidjo’s corpse, a dialogue with the opposition notably John FruNdi whom you have not met in 17 years of multipartian.

                I don’t think your statistics on the abstentions during the elections are very correct. The abstentions were not as to make any difference in the outcome of the vote. Besides, abstentions during elections are not specific to Cameroon; they are observed all over the world. But I think that the participation during most of our elections have been far above average; about 60% in some place and even up to 90% in others.

                What about dialogue with opposition parties? Do you look forward to dialoguing with opposition leaders, John FruNdi for example?

                I think i have always been open and ready for dialogue with whosoever. You realize that after the last legislative elections in July we won 140 of the 180 parliamentary seats. We won 13 more seats during the partial elections. With these we could comfortably form a government without caring about the opposition. But what did we do? We still opted to dialogue with these political parties and even asked them to join us in forming a union government. With our sweeping majority in parliament we could also take all the posts in the bureau of parliament. But we have given out some of these posts to opposition parties. Members of opposition parties are even heading some commissions in parliament. I must tell you that we arrived at all these decisions after very intense and difficult dialogue and negotiations.

                As for Mr. FruNdi, it is true that we have not met for years. But I can say it here and loud, and he will not gainsay this, that we took a rendez-vous sometime to meet somewhere; and it was he that chose my village, which is not far from Yaounde. But when the time came he did not show up. Like I said before, I am open for dialogue with who ever. I have no disregard for any body. And I have always encouraged my collaborators to also open up to the opposition.

                Are you saying that Cameroon is changing gradually?

                Rightly, Cameroon is changing. You can see that though we have always had crushing victories in all elections we have still opened up to opposition parties and they share portfolios in government with us. At first this would not be the case.    

                Mr. President there is also the burning issue of the repatriation of your predecessor, President Ahidjo’s corpse. What do have to say about this?

                I have always said it and I still think that it is something that depends on his family. If my predecessor’s family decides to bring his remains home, I have no objections or any observation to make.

NB: President Biya granted this interview, in 2009 in Paris, France, during one of his visits to the Elysee. He made the trip on the invitation of the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Given that it is still relevant even today, we decided to publish it again for  your reading pleasure. Needless to say the original version was in French. The translation is by The Median.