Mila Assoute and Agbor Balla press Biya on succession at 44-year mark

President Paul Biya marked 44 years in office on 6 November 2026, the anniversary of the day in 1982 when Ahmadou Ahidjo resigned and handed him power. His party, the CPDM, held celebrations. Two public figures used the date to publish texts about what should follow him.

Mila Assoute, who describes himself as chief superior of the Mbo Sanzo in exile and who once led the Modernists current inside the CPDM, published a tribune titled "Quel Cameroun apres vous ? (Partie 2)". In it he called on Biya to prepare a political succession that preserves peace, national unity and the institutions of the Republic. He warned against what he called a dynastic confiscation of power and against a political continuity dominated by the interests of an oligarchy. A separate text attributed to him, titled "Le Cameroun est une Republique", criticised rivalries over the succession inside the government, pointed to economic and financial difficulties, and said he was worried about what he considers threats to republican institutions. The two texts circulated on 6 November 2026.

Agbor Balla, a human rights lawyer, published a tribune the same day under the title "Leadership, temps et heritage". He wrote that the measure of leadership lies in the lives it improves, the rights it protects, the opportunities it creates and the institutions it strengthens. He asked whether a young Cameroonian can look to the future with confidence, whether citizens can express themselves and take part in decisions that affect their lives, and whether a family can be sure that justice will be accessible and that public institutions will serve everyone. He called for better protection of human rights, stronger institutions and greater citizen participation in public life.

The anniversary falls while the office of vice-president of the Republic, created by the constitutional revision promulgated on 14 April 2026, remains empty. Under the Constitution as revised that day, the president appoints and dismisses the vice-president, and no other body shares that power. The revision does not name a successor. Where the presidency falls vacant, interim duties pass to the president of the Senate, who may not revise the Constitution, dissolve the National Assembly, organise a referendum or appoint members of the Constitutional Council. The Senate president is elected by the Senate, whose members are elected by the regional councils.

Debate over the vacancy has run publicly since the revision. On 5 October 2026, 11 intellectuals, among them Achille Mbembe and Akere Muna, called in a tribune for the competent authorities to declare the presidency vacant and open a constitutional transition. Gregoire Owona answered on 8 October 2026 that the Constitution does not recognise a de facto vacancy and that the Republic has no dauphin. On 14 October 2026, Denis Emilien Atangana of the FDC called on Biya to name a vice-president, writing that the state of the head of state's health made the appointment necessary.

The decision that will show the direction of this question is the appointment of a vice-president, which only the president can make. Until a decree naming one is signed, the office stays empty and the Senate president remains the constitutional interim. The CPDM has not publicly responded to the two tribunes.

Sources