The New Year address Biya didn’t deliver

Yaounde as Biya sees it in 2035

Fellow Cameroonians, dear compatriots;

It is that time of the year when I come before you as President to present to you a balance sheet of our successes and failures in 2015 and the plans and challenges that we envisage for our country this New Year, 2016.

As you all know, 2015 was quite a challenging year for our nation. We were confronted with the terrorist forces of Boko Haram. We saw fuel prices go up, and as a result, many commodity prices and cost of essential services went up too.

There were other challenges – the incessant problem of power/electricity failure, scarcity in urban water supply, and urban floods, owing to poor urban planning, amongst others. The track of road linking Bafoussam in the West Region and Bamenda in the Northwest Region became impassable. To avoid Anglophones grumbling of neglect, I ordered stoppage of toll collection on the track of road and also released emergency funds for a quick fix.

Embezzlement and Corruption continued in gov’t circles – the case of the entrance exam into IRIC comes to mind easily. Bribery continued to be a big burden. The only Sea port in Douala came to a standstill as the whereabouts of the General Manager of the Port Authourity remained unknown.

Dear compatriots,

In spite of these and other challenges, our country continued its surge undeterred. Our ever loyal, brave and patriotic soldiers dealt a severe blow on the terrorist forces of Boko Haram. No doubt Boko Haram has now resorted to strapping homemade bombs on women and teenagers, getting them to blow up themselves in the name of Allah. But rest assured that my administration remains steadfast to ensuring the security and safety of all Cameroonians. We shall win this war.

Even though you saw some fake photos of me on the Presidential website showing me honouring our fallen soldiers, I want to set the record straight – I have not had opportunity to honour the remains of our bravest ones in uniform who paid the ultimate price in the ongoing war. Permit me to use this New Year address to formerly pay homage to them and their families. We shall never forget their bravery, patriotism and sacrifice.

At the tail end of the year, Cameroon also witnessed the death of one of its bravest generals – a man who brought honour to our nation representing our nation in Banqui and head of the United Nations forces of stabilization in that country – Gen. Martin Tumenta. I still don’t know who poisoned him, but you can rest assured that investigations are ongoing and The Cameroon Journal will certainly channel the result of our investigations to you all.

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow countrymen,

Our country continued to make such economic strides, maintaining economic growth at its targeted rate of 6% and kept inflation at its lowest. However, the rate of youth unemployment remained a challenge as in all the years I have served as your President. But because I crave their support in the next election, I plan to combat this problem this year by recruiting more youths into the armed forces, paramilitary police and national gendarmerie so the nation is better prepared to confronting and annihilating the most urgent menace that all of us face – Boko Haram.

Included in my plan to combat youth unemployment in 2016, is the launching of national projects that should facilitate the recruitment of hundreds of thousands of our youths to gainful employment.

Among the grand projects is the linking of our national territory with mechanized roads. The following roads are under consideration.

Yaounde – Douala double carriage expressway Bafoussam Bamenda expressway Loum – Kumba expressway Limbe – Douala expressway Garoua – Ngoundere – Maroua expressway Yaounde – Garoua expressway Dschang – Fontem – Mamfe highway Mamfe – Akwaya highway Bamenda – Ring road, Completion of Kumba – Mamfe highway, among others. Besides road infrastructure, our country will be hosting the women and men’s AFCON this coming

The Cameroon youth is ready to lead, not wait.

year and in 2019 respectively. As a result, we have embarked on the construction of new stadia across the country. This will also go to reduce youth unemployment, and perhaps end the practice up north where Boko Haram is recruiting our youth to become terrorists by paying them meager sums of money to join them.

I cannot emphasize enough the strides our country is making towards greater emergence in 2035. The photos you see on your screen (for those of you watching by television) are the pictures of what our beloved capital; Yaounde shall look like by 2035.

By 2035, Yaounde skyline, including those of Douala, Limbe, Bamenda, Bafoussam, Buea, Kumba, Ngoundere, Maroua, Ebolowa, Garoua, Edea, Kribi, – all our regional capitals and major cities, shall be transformed from looking like hurricane savaged zones, into looking or better still, compared to contemporary African cities like Kigali in Rwanda, Johannesburg, Abidjan, Lagos, Abuja, Luanda in Angola, Port Harcourt in Nigeria, among many others.

Yaounde as Biya sees it in 2035

My dear compatriots,

A great leader, even without term limits can never see all his dreams for the nation accomplished. In this regard, I have informed my compatriots in the elites’ party, the CPDM, to which I’m dear leader that I will be standing re-election in a precipitated election in 2017. They agree with me that I’m the only one who can lead this country to emergence. Many of them, especially members of the Central Committee have thus endorsed my plan to stand re-election. I have, however, promised them that in 2035, God willing I’m still alive, will hand over leadership of the party and the nation to the youth. And I hope that my opponents in the opposition will do the same. There are lots of potentials in our youths. They are the future of this country and we must start reminding them that their turn lies just ahead.

Fellow Cameroonians,

As you gather around kitchen tables, beer parlours, palm wine huts and bottle dance clubs to celebrate the New Year, I want you to know that the future of our nation has never been better. I have just sent New Year wishes to Chairman Fru Ndi and now I wish every Cameroonian a happy and prosperous New Year, 2016