The former first lady Germaine Ahidjo, widow of Cameroon's first President, recently admitted in a rare interview that her Muslim husband Ahmadou Ahidjo made mistakes during his 26 years as President, but the most grievous was to hand over power to his Christian Prime Minister, Paul Biya. Biya took over in 1982. Since then, figures from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund reflect the decline of Cameroon's economy from a middle-income to a highly-indebted poor country. Unemployment is, officially, above 40%. For the last two years, Cameroon has ranked as the most corrupt country on earth according to international watchdog Transparency International.
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