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Cameroon

Biya's succession law fails to quash turf wars

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A constitutional amendment rushed through parliament on 4 April hands President Biya sole power to appoint and dismiss a vice-president, stoking legal challenges

The parliament in Yaoundé voted 200 to 18 on 4 April to create a new office of vice-president whose holder would be appointed and could be dismissed solely by the 93-year-old President Paul Biya. The opposition Front pour le Salut National du Cameroun, the party of presidential challenger Issa Tchiroma Bakary, boycotted the vote.

Biya’s ruling Rassemblement Démocratique du Peuple Camerounais says that the bill ensures that there is a successor to serve out the seven-year mandate secured by Biya at last October’s contested elections (AC Vol 66 No 21, To the victor the spoiled ballot & Vol 66 No 23, Biya sworn in as resistance ebbs). The bill states that if the president dies, resigns, or becomes incapacitated, the vice-president will serve as interim president for the remainder of the term.

Tchiroma’s party contend that the law is unconstitutional – the vice-presidency was abolished in 1972 following a referendum – while the Cameroon Bar Association has warned that the new measure ‘erodes the democratic legitimacy (of) the presidential office’. Its passage points to Biya’s growing infirmity and comes amid increasingly bitter turf wars between ministers and aides (AC Vol 67 No 4, Biya’s grip falters as barons fight over a port contract).


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