Council for a Community of Democracies

Cameroon President Biya Seeks to Alter Constitution to Remain President for Life
By Daniel Hollingsworth
January 23, 2008

Reuters reports that Cameroonian President Paul Biya signaled in a December 31 address that he will seek to alter the constitution to remove all term limitations on his presidency, allowing him to remain president for life. Biya, who has ruled Cameroon for 25 years, “said in his New Year's message late on [December 31] that his government would ‘re-examine’ the constitution to respond to what he said were popular calls for him to run again when his term expires.” Cameroon is regularly ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, and the Reuters report notes that Transparency International ranked it as the most corrupt in the world in 1998 and 1999.

The Cameroon-based human rights organization Humanus Foundation, whose president Dieudonné Zognong is a member of the Nongovernmental International Steering Committee of the Community of Democracies, has issued the following statement condemning Biya’s plan:

“On 31st December 2007, during the end of year message to the nation, Cameroon President confirmed his imminent intention to modify the Constitution in order to delete the clause of limitation of presidential mandate terms. The President (75 years old) is in power since 1982.

“According to the current constitution (article 6-2) the presidential term of office is 7 years, renewable only once; and the last septennate of Mr. Biya will end in 2011, after 29 years of uninterrupted reign. And yet the regime intends to modify the Constitution to allow unlimited mandates and guarantee life presidency. This violation will be achieved by the Parliament, where the ruling party has a strong majority, gained from the very controversial and denounced legislative elections of July 2007.

“Humanus Foundation condemns such a project, which presents serious threats on peace. We underscore the following:

“The legalistic argument brandished by the regime is fallacious because the present Parliament that will amend the Constitution is a product of fraudulent elections, largely denounced by national and international observers.

“We invoke the imperative of constitutional justice that lies on the imperative of legitimacy, and not on fallacious legalism. The unpopularity of the regime, bad governance, systematically fraudulent elections, the aggravation of corruption and extreme poverty, [and] the set-back of economic performances since 1982 exclude any legitimacy to the project of perenniality of the regime.

“A sincere improvement of the constitutional setting of Cameroon cannot emanate from the present regime. A pro-democratic Constitution can only be expected from a participative process, including civil society and opposition parties. In its constitutional program, Humanus Foundation is since 2006 preparing a proposition of a Constitutional bill to verify the government’s sincerity.

“We condemn an opportunistic modification of the Constitution aiming at satisfying personal ambitions. Any revisions must be in a republican spirit, not to permit life presidency. Better still a revision must not take place before the next presidential election, or before the creation of an Independent Electoral Commission in Cameroon.”

References:

Reuters: Cameroon’s Biya signals intent to scrap term limit

Humanus Foundation Press Release on Modification of Cameroon’s Constitution

For more background on Cameroon, please visit the following sites:

Freedom House: Freedom in the World 2008, Cameroon

State Department Background Notes on Cameroon

CIA World Factbook: Cameroon