ANALYSIS

World's 20th Worst Living Dictators: One Down, Who's Next?

By Tom FredFish

In an era where the enthronment of popular democracy have taken sway in the world, dictatorial rulership still exist even in some advance countries of the world. Africa which is the bastion of unpopular system of governance is not left out and is in lead.

According to David Wallechinsky, after Robert Mugabe who was recently forced to resign in Zimbabwe after 37 years as the country Supreme leader, "Cameron's Paul Biya, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, and King Mswati of Swaziland are among some of the world's worst dictators".

For a country like Cameron whose leader has been in the saddle since November 6, 1982 it is pertinent to take a look at Paul Biya's 35 years rule. As an official in post-independence 1960s Cameroon, Paul Biya rose to prominence under President
Ahmadou Ahidjo.

After becoming Director of the Cabinet of the Minister of National Education in January 1964 and Secretary-General of the Ministry of National Education in July 1965, Biya was named Director of the Civil Cabinet of the President in December 1967 and Secretary-General of the Presidency in January 1968. He was further appointed Minister of State in June 1970, while remaining Secretary-General of the Presidency. Following the creation of a unitary state in 1972, he became Prime Minister of Cameroon on 30 June 1975. In June 1979, a new law designated the Prime Minister as the President's constitutional successor. Ahidjo unexpectedly announced his resignation on 4 November 1982, and Biya accordingly succeeded him as President of Cameroon on 6 November.

A reflect on Cameroon's electoral process leaves one appalled by Biya's continual manipulation of the process to remain perpetually in office. For instance "every few years, Biya stages an election to justify his continuing reign, but these elections have no credibility. In fact, Biya is credited with a creative innovation in the world of phony elections. In 2004, annoyed by the criticisms of international vote-monitoring groups, he paid for his own set of international observers, six ex-U.S. congressmen, who certified his election as free and fair" says David Wallechinsky.

Note worthy is the fact that Biya regularly spends extended periods of time in Switzerland at the Hotel 
InterContinental Geneva where a former director of the hotel, Herbert Schott reportedly said he comes to work without being disturbed.

These extended stays away from Cameroon (while sometimes as short as two weeks), are sometimes as long as three months and are almost always referred to as "short stays" in the state-owned press and other media. In February 2008, he passed a bill that allows for having an additional term in office as president which was followed by civil unrests throughout the country. The main violent riots took place in the Western, English-speaking part of the country starting with a "strike" initiated by taxi drivers in Douala, allegedly causing more than 200 casualties in the end.

In 2009, his holiday in France allegedly cost $40,000 a day spent on 43 hotel rooms. In 2009, Biya was ranked 19th in Parade Magazine's Top 20 list of "the World's Worst Dictators".

In November 2010, Bertrand Teyou published a book titled 'La belle de la république bananière: Chantal Biya, de la rue au palais' meaning "The beauty of the banana republic: Chantal Biya, from the streets to the palace", tracing Chantel, Biya's wifes rise from humble origins to become Paul Biya's First Lady. Bertrand was subsequently given a two-year prison term on charges of "insult to character" and organizing an "illegal demonstration" for attempting to hold a public reading. Amnesty International and Interna-tional PEN's Writers in Prison Committee both protested his arrest and issued appeals on his behalf; Amnesty International also named him a prisoner of conscience. He was freed on 2 May 2011 when the London chapter of International PEN agreed to pay his fine in order that he might seek treatment for his worsening health condition.

In February 2014, French citizen Michel Thierry Atangana was released from a makeshift 
Yaoundé prison where, under Biya's orders, he had been arbitrarily detained for 17 years under false claims of embezzlement because of supposed closeness to another presidential candidate Titus Edzoa. Considered a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience by the United States Department of State, Amnesty International, Freedom House, and the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention since 2005, Michel was released under Biya's personal decree but the Working Group's tripartite demands remains unfulfilled. In 2016 Cameroonians in the nation’s capital city of Yaonde criticized Biya’s reaction to the country’s worst train crash in which 79 people died. Criticism included government officials who remained anonymous, fearing a backlash.

The Anglophone protests in late 2016 was led by English-speaking lawyers in protest against the use of French in Cameroonian courts led to violent clashes with police. Opposition party leader Edna Njilin of the Cameroon People’s Party spoke out against the enforced use of French in the classroom. In March this year, the government ordered a suspension of Internet services in the Northwest and Southwest provinces. Criticism of the suspension and increased opposition led to resumption of services in late April.

By June 2017 this year, protests in Cameroon’s-English speaking provinces and cities led to extreme police brutality with 4 protesters killed and over 100 arrested. International criticism has been levied at the United States for their lack of response to the growing Cameroonian crisis. In April 2017, a Cameroonian journalist working for Radio France Internationale, Ahmed Abba, was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment by a military tribunal for failing to report acts of terrorism. The judgement was severely criticized by human rights groups including Amnesty International and other Human Rights body.

Also in early 2017, videos and reports surfaced online alleging that a genocide was taking place in Southern Cameroon, sanctioned, and led by Paul Biya. A petition to the United Nations gave details of police raping students at a university. Supporters were calling for the independence of Southern Cameroon before the violence escalates. The National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms embarked on a fact-finding mission in Buea, to investigate allegations of human rights abuses in the region but as usual cases like that usually nose dive.

As Zimbabweans and democrats around the world celebrate the forced "resignation" of Robert Mugabe - world oldest leader who rules the country for 37 years, analysts have turned their radar to one of Nigeria's hostile neighbour - Cameron with a deep and unappreciative look at the ruling class who seems comfortable being led in an archaic and anacromistic manner. Since Cameroon and other countries who are being ruled by dictators are sovereign nations and the fact that sovereignty belongs to the people, only time will tell how comfortable Cameroonians are with a sole and Supreme leader in this jet age.