Biya makes it to China alive! ⁰

After taking a huge dose of steroids and sedatives, Cameroon’s President, Paul Biya, finally made it to Beijing, the Chinese capital which is a huge contrast to Yaoundé, Cameroon’s dirty capital and the dirtiest and most chaotic capital in the world.

Mr. Biya is in Beijing for the China-Africa Summit which is designed to enhance cooperation between African countries and China.

China and Africa have, over the last three decades, been involved in so-called a win-win cooperation but in many cases, Africans have been complaining about China’s exploitative tendencies as the new Asian superpower devours African natural resources with impunity.

Many African leaders like Paul Biya are simply oblivious of the riches their countries possess, but even when they are aware, they collaborate with foreigners to rob their people blind.

Mr. Biya, a 91-year-old dictator, has been a suspect in many corruption scandals in his country with the Glencore scandal being the latest, but his absolute powers and high-handed approach to governance make it hard for Cameroonians to challenge a man who has nothing to show for his long stay in power.

Government officials loyal to the ailing and dying dictator argue that Mr. Biya is in China to negotiate for Chinese businesspeople to come and set up shops in the corrupt Central African country whose economy is on the verge of collapse.

But opponents of the Biya regime argue that a 91-year-old man whose body is today a conference centre for diseases has no business being in China where no reasonable Chinese businessperson will trust a dying man whose history of leadership is replete with disheartening stories of corruption and power abuse.

Speaking to the Cameroon Concord News Group correspondent in China, an angry Cameroonian who left his fatherland in anger and disappointment said that only foolish Chinese businesspeople will trust a man who is at death’s door and there are very few foolish Chinese.

“Mr. Biya thinks people around the world still take him seriously. Who will put his riches in the hands of a dying person? Cameroon’s economy is crawling like Mr. Biya himself and putting your money in a country which is more of a ticking time bomb than a good business environment is like asking for a full body massage from a hungry and an angry crocodile,” the Cameroonian said.

“Mr. Biya and his team are simply wasting the country’s money. Mr. Biya clearly belongs to the past and people who are forward-looking will not want to have anything to do with a man who has run his own country aground,” the disappointed Cameroonian added.

“If Mr. Biya wants to demonstrate that he loves Cameroon, then he should resign and return to his village. After 42 years in power, there is clear evidence that the man who once inspired hope has disappointed his people. He is stuck to power like a leech and the only thing that matters to him is power. He does not care if his own people are dying of his own mismanagement. He is the type of person who will burn his own nation to the ground and preside over its ashes,” the very bitter Cameroonian who is not a happy camper in China said.

“In Beijing, many Chinese are making a mockery of Africa because of Mr. Biya who is even incapable of walking. Many Chinese cannot wrap their minds around the fact that a dying man is leading the living in Africa. I feel humiliated. This man should leave Cameroon alone. He has humiliated us for too long. He does not need to die with the country for him to know that he is a spurn of Satan,” our fellow Cameroonian in China said.

“I even told my Chinese friends that Mr. Biya would still run in the 2025 presidential election and they asked me if he wanted to lead all Cameroonians to an early grave. I felt disgraced and humiliated. But what can I do? Cameroonians seem to be happy with Mr. Biya’s torture and it seems most Cameroonians are suffering from the famous Stockholm syndrome, a disease which makes the victim to sympathize and even admire his oppressor,” the Sawa native said.

Mr. Biya thinks that he can still obtain great deals from Chinese businesspeople but he clearly belongs to the past. Creditors only trust credit-worthy debtors and Biya does not look like a credit-worthy debtor. There is very low appetite for Cameroon’s risk and debt in China because of Mr. Biya’s mismanagement of his country’s economy.

When bad governance and corruption are the hallmarks of a dying regime, not many people would like to take their money to such an environment. It is very likely that Mr. Biya will be flogging a dead horse in China, as many Chinese businesspeople have already made up their minds. Who will put his money in unstable hands and a badly frozen face?

South Africa, Rwanda, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ethiopia and Botswana are more attractive investment destinations and hot money will surely move to such countries given that they have impressive governance records.

Biya has run Cameroon aground. He has succeeded to give Cameroon a very bad name. No African president has worked as hard as Mr. Biya to give his country the horrible distinction of being a chaotic and dirty environment.

What is more baffling is the fact that Mr. Biya and his wife, Chantal Biya, noted for her flaming red hair, are always taking pictures while abroad. How come they cannot see the stark contrast existing between their country and the foreign countries they visit?

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from Staff man Alain Agbor Ebot