The choice of those he received was quite revealing of his desire to listen to the grassroots.
Quite from the enthusiasm with ordinary citizens applauded as his motorcade drove past, it was evident that the President's visit to Douala had been desired by numerous citizens. And the choice of those he received in audience is very indicative of his desire to be in communion with the grassroots or people of ordinary condition.
It is true that the first audiences on Friday were accorded to members of his ruling CPDM party in two delegations led by firstly by Thomas Tobbo Eyoum of the Central Committee who told journalists that he had come to inform the President of the functioning of the party in Douala and secondly by Senator Siegfried Etame Massoma who said his delegation had come to thank President Biya for "choosing the Littoral Region as his first outing since the September 30, 2013 elections". Later on Friday, he received a delegation of the Bassa-Mpoo-Bati fraternity who came to confer the title of "Mbombog" on him. The leader of the delegation, Mbombog Guillaume Mbouk is said to have suggested transforming the place where the head of State had been made a "Nnôm Ngii" be transformed into a sanctuary.
Even if the Head of State received the administrative authorities of the Littoral Region, the Douala Government delegate Fritz Ntone Ntone and Sawa Chiefs on Saturday to thank them for the success of his visit,, his concentration seemed more linked to grassroots people. He successively received a delegation of Moslems led by Dr Mbombo Ibrahim Mubarak with which he discussed
the recent capture of a priest in the Far-North Region ostensibly by an Islamist group. With a delegation of the National Association of Young handicapped led by Jean Pierre Fopa, issues under discussion were around the participation of the handicapped in the effort to get Cameroon become an emerging economy. Representatives of the national association of bike transporters led by Dieudonné Ngouego after meeting the Head of State, said they now considered themselves as "full-fledged citizens" because all too often, they are taken as irresponsible citizens. He said with over 150 000 bike riders in Douala, their place in the city's economy, especially with regard to intra-city transportation, was henceforth assured with the support of the Head of State. A delegation of the Littoral branch of the National Youth Council also met with the Head of State and after their audience, their leader Aimé Yvan Minang said they were arming up to be by the Head of State's side in all his endeavours to make Cameroon an emerging economy. "After-all, we are the beneficiaries of all that is being planned," he told journalists after the audience.
