Breaking the silence

Titus Edzoa

Titus Edzoa recounts his glorious and tumultuous life!
A 90-minute documentary put together by veteran journalist Jean Materne Ndi and broadcast on Equinoxe TV on Sunday, 1 March 2015 sheds abundant light on the life of this controversial figure of Cameroonian politics
By Mercy Neba in Douala
Born on 4 January 2015 in Bonaberi, Douala, Titus Edzoa had very humble beginnings. On account of his restless and agitated character, his father, a railway worker, feared that he would be very destructive at home if he were left there. So at a very tender age, young Titus was registered in Government School New-Bell, Bassa. However, when he attained school-going age, he was enrolled in St. John Bosco Catholic School Bonadibong where his extraordinary intelligence caused him to receive a double promotion at the early stages.
    When he completed primary school in 1957, he entered the minor seminary in Bonepoupa near Edea where he studied up till 3e (the equivalent of form 4). He did the second cycle in Collège Liberman in Douala where he obtained his French Baccalauréat in Philosophy in 1964.
Titus Edzoa’s dream was to become a surgeon. However, having missed a government scholarship to study abroad, he was obliged to register in the Faculty of Law and Economics of the University of Yaounde which was created one year earlier.


Dream come true
    But the young man’s stay at the University of Yaounde lasted only a fortnight. For a scholarship to study medicine abroad fell on him like manna from heaven. Hear him: “One day in the month of October, I received a letter from Europe. I realised that it bore an Italian stamp and was sent by my former teacher at the minor seminary at Bonepoupa and Liberman, Fr. Celestin Nkou, who later became bishop. I opened it and realised that it was a scholarship proposal to study medicine in Milan.”
    Edzoa finally flew to Italy in January 1965 where he enrolled in a medical school. In 1970 he graduated as a medical doctor (general practitioner) and five years later as a specialist in general surgery. But he also practiced football and music which remain his passion to this day.

Edzoa’s contact with Biya
    The young surgeon started off working in Italy. But his urge to serve his fatherland obliged him to return home not long after. Here, his first station was Ebolowa and later Ayos. Up to this point, he had had no contact with Paul Biya.
    He was later transferred to the Yaounde Central Hospital where, at one point, he had to carry out a spectacular surgery on a parent of the prime minister at the time. That was when Biya, who had learned of the operation, asked to meet Edzoa.
    The close relationship that later developed between Titus Edzoa and Paul Biya who became President of the Republic in 1982 left Cameroonians with the belief that the former was the latter’s personal doctor. However, in the documentary, Edzoa debunks this rumour, saying he has never been one. He even refuses to be considered President Biya’s friend as he says: “To say that I am his friend is a bit exaggerated. He is someone with whom I exchanged at all levels, except at the level of politics.”
The surgeon was later to be appointed adviser of the President, then minster chargé de mission at the Presidency as well as to many other high offices including secretary-general at the Presidency.

Divorce
    All went well between the two personalities until 30 April 1997 when Titus Edzoa resigned from the government at the approach of the presidential election of that year. He didn’t end there; he also announced his candidature for the post of President! When asked the reason for this unexpected twist of events, the surgeon-cum-politician explains:
    “My convictions were no longer the same as those of the system created by President Biya…Politics is not a matter of passion, but of reason.”
    That was when the dark moments of his life saw the light of day. Accused of being guilty on many counts, he was apprehended on 3 July 1997 under circumstances which he says did not respect any legal procedure.
    Edzoa was first sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1998 and later to 20 years in 2012. After 17 years of incarceration at the gendarmerie headquarters in Yaounde, he was released in February 2014 thanks to a presidential amnesty. During the long period of his imprisonment, he wrote a book “Méditations de prison” (Prison Meditations) which he advises everyone to peruse.
    The ex-prisoner confesses that the period of his detention was not totally negative. Even though he does not wish others to go to prison, he emphasizes that a prison experience can permit one, just like him, to have another vision of life. He prescribes love for work as the only condition of success for the youth.