For more than four decades, President Paul Biya has been the answer that the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement, CPDM, has repeatedly given whenever the question of who should lead Cameroon comes up.
In 2011, the call was made. In 2018, it was repeated. In 2025, it became louder.
Each time, supporters of the President rallied around him, urging the man who has governed Cameroon since 1982 to continue leading the country. In 2018, thousands of supporters marched in Garoua, while the CPDM and allied parties openly endorsed Biya and asked their supporters to vote for him. In 2025, his candidacy for another term was formally submitted by the CPDM, with the party presenting him as its candidate for the presidential election.
The message from his supporters has therefore been consistent: Mr President, stay with us. Continue to lead us. We still need you.
But today, there is another call that deserves to be heard.
"Mr President, come home."
President Biya left Cameroon on June 7, 2026, accompanied by his wife, Chantal Biya, and senior officials of the Presidency. The official announcement described the trip simply as a “brief private stay” in Europe.
More than two months later, he is still away.
This has now become more than a question of how long a president can remain outside his country. It is a question about leadership, transparency, public confidence and the relationship between a president and the people who have repeatedly been told that he remains indispensable to the nation.
Reports indicate that this is now Biya's longest absence from Cameroon since he came to power in 1982. His 2026 stay has already gone beyond the 49-day absence recorded in 2024, which itself generated intense public concern and speculation about his health.
And this is where the irony becomes difficult to ignore.
For years, Cameroonians have been told that President Biya is the man the country needs. His supporters have travelled from town to town, organised rallies, displayed his photographs and asked voters to renew their confidence in him.
In 2025, at the age of 92, he sought and won another presidential mandate. His candidacy was presented as a continuation of his service to Cameroon.
If the people are important enough to be asked to vote for him, they are important enough to deserve reassurance about their President.
This is not a demand that the President abandon his privacy. It is not a demand that every detail of his private life be made public. And it is certainly not a call to speculate irresponsibly about his health.
It is a simple demand for responsible leadership.
A President is not an ordinary citizen.
The office carries responsibilities that go beyond the individual. The President is the symbol of the state, the head of the executive and the person around whom the country's political system is organised. When such a president remains outside the country for an unusually long period, citizens naturally begin to ask questions.
Where is he?
Is he well?
Is he still able to perform his constitutional duties?
When is he coming back?
These are not unreasonable questions.
Indeed, they are questions that a confident government should be able to answer without treating every inquiry as an attack on the state.
The events of 2024 should have taught Cameroon an important lesson.
When President Biya disappeared from public view for weeks, rumours spread rapidly. The government eventually confirmed that he was in Switzerland and said he would return. But the secrecy surrounding his health only fuelled speculation. At the time, even discussion of the President's health became politically sensitive.
Two years later, we appear to be walking down the same road.
The difference is that this time the absence is even longer.
And Cameroon has changed.
The country is facing serious challenges: insecurity in the Far North, the continuing crisis in the North West and South West, economic difficulties, unemployment, rising expectations among young people and growing demands for better governance.
Cameroonians do not need a government that merely says everything is normal.
They need a government that demonstrates that everything is normal.
There is an important distinction.
Government ministers can continue signing decrees. Civil servants can continue working. Parliament can continue sitting. Administrative institutions can continue operating.
But the continued functioning of government institutions does not eliminate the legitimate question of the President's personal availability and capacity to discharge his responsibilities.
Recent reporting has shown that the President's prolonged absence has already generated criticism and concern, including within political circles. Reuters reported in July that the CPDM had convened a rare meeting of senior party leaders amid growing criticism of Biya's absence.
This should not be dismissed as opposition propaganda.
A government that has spent decades asking citizens to place their confidence in one leader should understand that the same citizens have a right to reassurance when that leader is absent for an unusually long period.
There is another irony.
Cameroon's political culture has made President Biya almost synonymous with continuity.
The argument has often been that his presence guarantees stability.
But if the country can function for months without the physical presence of its President, perhaps Cameroon should begin asking a deeper question: Should the stability of an entire state depend so heavily on one individual?
That is not an insult to President Biya.
It is an argument for stronger institutions.
A modern state must be bigger than its president. Its institutions must be capable of functioning transparently whether the President is in Yaoundé, abroad, travelling, resting or temporarily unable to work.
This is precisely why the current situation should become an opportunity for Cameroon to strengthen its constitutional and institutional safeguards.
The public should not have to rely on rumours, social media posts or unofficial sources to know whether its Head of State is well.
Other countries have shown that it is possible to respect presidential privacy while providing the public with credible information about the President's health and ability to perform his duties.
Cameroon can do the same.
The issue is not whether President Biya deserves privacy. Of course he does.
The issue is whether the presidency itself can remain opaque when the person occupying that office is absent from the country for an extraordinary period.
There is also a moral dimension to this story.
For years, CPDM supporters have told President Biya that Cameroon needs him.
They called on him to run again.
They defended his candidature.
They voted for him.
They celebrated his victories.
They said, in effect, “Mr President, do not leave us.”
Today, perhaps the most loyal message they can send him is not another call to remain in office.
It is this:
“Mr President, come home.”
Come home to the people who have repeatedly asked you to lead them.
Come home to the institutions that you have presided over for more than four decades.
Come home to a country facing some of the most difficult challenges of its modern history.
Come home, if you are well, and reassure the nation personally.
And if you are not well enough to return or to perform your duties, then tell the Cameroonian people the truth and allow the constitutional institutions of the Republic to do what they were created to do.
That is not disloyalty.
That is responsible citizenship.
President Biya has been in power since 1982. At 93, he is now the world's oldest sitting head of state, according to recent international reporting. His extraordinary longevity in power makes the question of succession, institutional continuity and presidential capacity increasingly important.
Cameroon cannot continue to treat these questions as taboo.
The country belongs to its citizens, not to one political party, one administration or one individual.
If the President is healthy and fully in charge, there should be no reason for the nation to remain uncertain.
If he needs medical attention, the country deserves reassurance.
If he needs more time abroad, the country deserves an explanation.
And if he can return, then perhaps the most appropriate message from the people who have spent years asking him to continue leading them is the simplest one:
Mr President, you answered the people's call to run. You answered the people's call to continue. Now, answer another call.
Paul Biya, come home.
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