Cameroun : les derniers jours d’un règne immobile ? (Par Oumou Wane)
The people hold their breath. The silence of power resonates louder than the cries in the streets.
Yaoundé is asleep in anticipation. The elections have taken place, but the country remains suspended between two truths: the one emerging from the ballot box, which the population claims to know, and the one emanating from the institutions, which the state persists in deferring. In Cameroon, October 12, 2025, could well go down in history as the date when a people, tired of being spectators, decided to write their own truths.
Because this time, the scenario escapes protocol.
Issa Tchiroma Bakary, a former minister of the regime who became its most formidable opponent, declared himself the winner of the election. Not out of bravado, but with supporting evidence: minutes posted, photographed, compiled, and verified. "The people have chosen, and this choice must be respected," he declared, his voice calm but sure. In a country where opposition victories often stop at the doors of the Constitutional Council, the gesture had the force of an earthquake.
In front of him, the old lion did not roar. At 92 years old, Paul Biya, the man who has reigned for 43 years, maintains the silence of a sphinx. The president no longer speaks; he delegates his silences. His Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, is careful to maintain the fiction of calm, reminding everyone that only the Constitutional Council is empowered to "proclaim." But this word, in Cameroon, has lost its solemnity. It no longer refers to the truth, but to its staging.
Yet, in the streets of Garoua, Douala, and Bafoussam, another drama is unfolding. There is talk of transition, of rebuilding, of justice. Long-silenced voices are awakening. Young people, who were said to be resigned, are posting the results of their polling stations on social media. Teachers, civil servants, even some soldiers, are murmuring that "the country must breathe."
Fear is shifting sides. What is at stake now is not just the possible end of a mandate, but that of an era. That of a power that has confused stability with stagnation, peace with apathy.
The international community is cautious and watching. Paris says nothing, Washington is worried, and the African Union is consulting. Everyone knows that Cameroon is not an insignificant state: it is the lock of the Gulf of Guinea, the point of balance between Central and West Africa. If the lock is released, an entire region will tremble.
But ultimately, the question is no longer geopolitical. It is moral.
How long can a people wait to have their own voice restored to them?
Tchiroma calls for calm. Biya remains silent. The Constitutional Council counts. The country, for its part, counts: in its streets, its prayers, its pent-up anger. On October 26, the announcement of the results may put an end to the wait. Or perhaps it will drag it out.
In the meantime, Cameroon lives in this suspended time where everything can change. In this moment when people stop bowing their backs and stand up to exist.
The winds of change are blowing. It remains to be seen whether the old baobab will hear the wind, or whether it will have to fall before the country can finally breathe.
Oumou Wane
President Citizen Media Group/Africa7
Commentaires (8)
Ana Oumou Wone la chantre du neddeoisme ? Elle a complètement disparu SOS Oumou
Sûrement un cretin de pasteef vous êtes une malédictions pour ce pays
Hé bayilene diambur ! 😅😅
Toujoura content de lire ton article ma chere Oumou Wane. Quelle Belle Plume!
Bel article
Claire poétique narrative
Comme j'en ai pas lu depuis longtemps.
Merci Madame
Quoi qu'on dise,elle a une belle plume!
belle plume ? cette alcoolique, fumeuse de lops à ses heures perdues, se fait rare depuis que Macky a béou (fui).
Plus jamais un président Halpulo, baakh oul si keur, bakhoul si aleu
Très belle plume doublée d'une analyse pertinente.
Chapezu
Oumou on t'aime bien.. tu as une belle plume et tout mais sincèrement pour la Cameroun laisse tomber... Trop de bruits là-bas mais au finish c'est Paul Biya le Grand qui gagne.. Dou moudiou fene . C'est le Cameroun de BIYA.. Hasta siempre.
Participer à la Discussion