The enigmatic Paul Biya, “absentee landlord” of Cameroon for forty-two years

To understand Paul Biya's seemingly endless reign, one must first understand Cameroon, its neighbors, and the man himself. After forty years of unchallenged power, he remains an enigmatic figure to many Cameroonians, including his own ministers—a rarely observed observer.

His speeches are meticulously scripted, his protocol is rigid, and he rarely grants interviews—his last, with a local journalist, was in 2002. He addresses the nation only three times a year and only gives Cameroonians a glimpse of their president during national day celebrations or when he leaves for one of his many trips abroad—a habit that has earned him the nickname “absentee landlord.” As [American political columnist] Fareed Zakaria said of the late Queen Elizabeth II, Paul Biya is simply boring. However, unlike the Queen, who “remained boring in the interest of the United Kingdom,” Biya’s apparent blandness only serves his own interests.

Biya has been called the “lion-man,” the “Sphinx,” erected as Jesus Christ, presented as the father of the nation, as an enigma, or even the Maradona of Cameroonian politics – but none of these epithets seem to truly capture the depth of his personality. Unlike other long-serving African leaders, such as [Rwandan President] Paul Kagame [in power for twenty-five