A heavily-attended State House reception

Yaounde’s weather was particularly clement yesterday, making for a very successful cocktail offered by the President of the Republic, Paul Biya and the First Lady Chantal in the evening at State House.

Quite unlike in previous years when unpredictable weather often came to dampen the glamour of the traditional reception, this year’s was quite exciting as could be seen from the very relaxed disposition of the guests as they left State House grounds.

State protocol indications were respected to the letter as the gates of State House were flung open at 5 pm leaving in long queues of guests who had arrived even directly from the May 20 Boulevard where the military parade had been organized earlier in the day.

Many could not afford going home to change to be in the reception gear for fear of coming late given the challenging traffic problem created by the huge movements of cars for the various National events and the need to keep orderly circulation. By the prescribed 6.30 pm, when the buffets in the two main reception sites – the main hall of State House and the adjoining gardens – were formally opened, impatient guests had even begun to help themselves with the lavish handy food and drinks.

A turning point came around 7 pm when the Presidential couple turned up. As the President of the Republic and his wife moved down the stairs into the hall, there was a spontaneous mass movement towards them for a handshake or a mere picture opportunity.

It took protocol and security officials quite some stamina to keep the surging guests at a reasonable distance, even if, understandably, it was but normal that each guest attempt to steal the show, as it were, for posterity.

Among the numerous guests lost in this huge crowd were the Chief of Staff of the Côte d’Ivoire Armed Forces, Lt General Ismaila Bakayoko; a former chairperson of the UN supervised Cameroon-Nigeria Mixed Commission on the implementation of the ICJ judgment on Bakassi, Mr Ahmedou Ould- Abdallah and the renowned Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango.

The Presidential couple left the reception hall some 20 minutes after their rounds while guests left, each taking along any desired quantities of assorted fruits placed at their disposal