Frank Bia: In the Shadow of His Father.

Many movements are calling on the eldest son of the president, who has been ruling the country for forty years, to run for the position of head of state. Officially, he has not put forward his candidacy for any position and has never publicly expressed his ambitions. But his slender figure is increasingly noticeable at official meetings, on social networks, and in images spread by the Cameroonian presidential administration. This new presence raises an inevitable question in a country where discussions about "captain" succession are becoming less and less theoretical: Frank Biya is striving to inherit the presidential chair, occupied by his father Paul for forty years, who turned90 on February13?

In Central Africa, where political dynasties have become the norm from Chad to Gabon, through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the emergence of Franck Biya,52 years old, in the backstage of the Cameroonian presidential administration is a sign, although no one on site considers it an endorsement. Countless ambitious and presumed successors fall prey to justice as soon as their intentions become too obvious. The Kondengui prison in Yaoundé has been home to many ministers and general secretaries of the presidential administration for over a decade.

Sam Frank Bia has always remained in the shadows. The eldest son of the steady president and his first wife, Jeanne-Irene, who died in1992, he studied at the University of South Carolina and then lived in France for a long time. A businessman, he invested in real estate and timber, among other things.

His secrecy did not prevent non-governmental organizations from investigating his affairs. In2012, Afrione Cameroun, one of his enterprises, was mentioned in a case of embezzlement of state funds. In2020, Greenpeace stated that he is a "minor shareholder" of Sud Cameroun Hévéa (a subsidiary of Halcyon, a global rubber production giant), a company that was accused of deforestation of thousands of hectares of forests. He has never responded to these accusations..

He says nothing about the intentions attributed to him by the Etoudi palace chroniclers, but he also does nothing to refute them. When Emmanuel Macron sets foot on Yaoundé soil in July2022, the road from the airport to the capital is adorned with posters urging him to run. The authorities quickly removed them, but no observer will miss the handshakes between Paul Biya and the French leader in the corridors of the presidential administration.

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