The Cameroonian government has categorically rejected allegations regarding an alleged vacancy in presidential authority, with Minister of State Jacques Fame Ndongo dismissing such claims as ‘legal and political absurdities’. He emphasized that Cameroon’s legal framework contains no provisions specifying a maximum duration for a president’s absence from national territory.

According to Ndongo, any attempt to apply a non-existent constitutional rule to President Paul Biya’s situation would represent ‘a fanciful interpretation worthy of supporters of legal quicksand’.

He further asserted that the Head of State, in power since 1982, remains actively engaged in governance, meticulously overseeing files either in person or through recognized electronic means.

Opposition fires back: ‘This is no mere stay—it’s a de facto exile’

The Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC), led by opposition figure Maurice Kamto, swiftly countered the government’s stance. In a statement, MRC Vice President Mamadou Mota posed a pointed question: ‘At what point does prolonged physical absence render the exercise of supreme magistracy illusory? Forty-five days outside national borders is not a stay—it is a de facto exile.’

The opposition mocked suggestions that Cameroon could be governed remotely, quipping that the country might become ‘the first in the world to operate under clandestine telecommuting’, with President Biya allegedly managing affairs electronically.