Ship without a captain!Where is President Biya?

Where is the President of the Republic of Cameroon? It's been over 21 days now that the Cameroonian president left the country.

Cameroonians are without news of him, according to close sources at the presidency who opted to be annonymous in passing over this information to Cameroon Concord.

On May 27 2016, a statement from the presidency indicated that Mr Biya had left the country for a brief private stay in Europe. No further details were given.

In the delegation accompanying the President were the following officials: Martin Belinga Eboutou, Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency of the Republic, Admiral Joseph Fouda, Special Advisor to the Head of State and BIKELE Pierre Simon, the Chief of State Protocol to Mr Biya. All close associates of the President.

But now, it is more than 21 days that Cameroonians are plaqued with the fate of Mr Biya and his whereabouts, including the reasons for this secretly kept trip, or better say his prolonged absence from the country.

In neigbouring Nigeria, the approach is different. Recently President Buhari went on a medical trip to London for treatment for an ear infection,before leaving Nigeria, the media and public all knew of the reasons why he was leaving.Buhari gave the reasons for his trip and explained to his compatriots the reasons for the extension of his stay.

In Cameroon it is the opposite, communications on private trips of the Head of State, is particularly opaque and evasive.Mr Biya sees no reason to tell the public where he goes or what he does.

Paul Biya's holiday in southern France in 2009 was the subject of articles in the Cameroonian and French press which alleged Mr Biya was spending $40,000 a day on 43 hotel rooms. Officials at the time defended the president's right to spend the money allotted to him the way he wished.

Because of his lengthy absences - sometimes two or three months at a time - he is known by his critics as the "absentee landlord".

When the Paul Biya lion died at Mvog Beti zoo in 2007, many said it was bad omen for the president.

Not long afterwards there were rumours that he had died in a Swiss clinic.

When he returned home after what had been a 43-day absence, he boasted on state television that those wishing him dead must wait for another 20 years.

Image caption Chantal the lioness at the zoo in Yaounde is now a widow

The late veteran reporter Pius Njawe spent a year in prison for suggesting the president was suffering from a heart problem when he appeared to faint while watching a football match some years ago.