While Minister of State Jacques Fame Ndongo declares that there is no text limiting the duration of the presidential stay abroad, Minister Grégoire Owona invokes labor law which allows spending up to 80 days outside the borders.
The Minister of Labor and Social Security Grégoire Owona has just added an argument in the construction of the reasoning aimed at justifying the extension of the presidential stay abroad. Often between 30 and 45 days in practice, the private stay of the Head of State in Europe has just exceeded the 51-day mark for the first time. The extension fuels a heated debate on the vacancy of the presidency and the continuity of the presidential function.
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On one side, the opposition brings out the artillery to demonstrate with legal and political arguments that it is necessary to “declare the vacancy”; that the country is “being run on autopilot”; that the regime is trying to justify a “clandestine telework” by the Head of State; and that it is necessary to declare “resignation due to unjustified absence.” The pressure from the opposition pushes the Cameroon People’s Democratic Rally to react by outright rejecting the accusations from the camp aspiring to come to power. “There is no vacancy in the presidency,” “the president is at work,” the Head of State is in “good health,” “no text limits the duration of the presidential stay abroad.”
On the 51st day of absence, the Minister of Labor and Social Security, Deputy Secretary General of the RDPC Central Committee, signs, according to him, the end of the debate. “Game Over.” “President Paul Biya, elected by the Cameroonian people and paid by them, is a worker who is entitled to annual leave.” Here lies the explanation for the ongoing private stay. The president would therefore be on annual leave and, in that case, free to enjoy this time as he wishes. This leave “could legally last 80 days.” In conclusion, the debate on the vacancy of the presidency is sterile according to Minister Grégoire Owona.
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His statement tends to inform that the private stay can be converted into annual leave. The people must still wait and cannot complain about the absence from work of their employee, the President of the Republic, until after 80 days. However, it reveals a contradiction with the statement of the communication secretary of the same central committee who is pleased to announce that the texts do not provide for a limited number of days that the Head of State must spend outside the territory. The labor law invoked in the debate, although distinct from the Constitution, remains binding. At work or on leave, part of public opinion only demands transparency.