National Assembly: Lawmaking house that breaks own law!.

Incumbent and long serving Speaker of the legislative chamber, Hon Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, 86, is believed to be the eldest lawmaker. But he was not the one who chaired the opening session Tuesday.

Business went on unperturbed with MPs looking away as Hon Marlyse Soppo Toute, younger than Cavaye by seven years, assumed the leadership of the Provisional Bureau. 

Going by the Standing Orders of the National Assembly, the eldest MP is supposed to assume leadership alongside the two youngest lawmakers. 

Yet, business opened Tuesday with Hon Marlyse Soppo Toute, 79, assuming leadership as ‘eldest MP’ of the current legislature.

The situation has sparked debates on who is really the eldest MP at the National Assembly. Many are now taking the review to even when the late Hon Nkoa Mfege, who died at 81, in January this year, was occupying the position of eldest MP.

According to Chapter III Section 14 (1) of the Standing Orders of the National Assembly: “At the beginning of each legislative period, as well as the opening of the First Ordinary Session of the National Assembly, the eldest member and two youngest members shall form the Provisionary Bureau, which shall remain in office until a Permanent Bureau of the National Assembly is elected”.

That Hon Soppo Toute emerged yesterday as ‘eldest member,’ has provoked questions about the ages of MPs. Her curriculum vitae, shared to reporters at yesterday’s opening session, shows that she was born on April 7, 1947. Going by the declared date, Hon Soppo Toute is 79 years old.

As for Cavaye, available information show he was born on February 1, 1940. He is thus 86 years old and should be the eldest Member of Parliament in the current legislature.

Cavaye, who has been serving as Speaker since 1992, analysts are arguing, doesn’t have any MP who matches his longevity and age. The veteran MP holds the record of heading parliamentary business for 34 uninterrupted years. 

He has been in the corridors of the National Assembly as MP for over 40 years. Cavaye first entered Parliament in 1973, took a break and returned in 1988 till date.

Dodging to continue staying on as Speaker?

Observers say what is transpiring with respect to the Provisional Bureau and the post of eldest member speaks of maneuvers to get Cavaye re-elected as Speaker. 

Others argue that notwithstanding his interest to seek re-election, Cavaye ought to serve as eldest member and then step down on the day of the voting to run as a candidate for the House’s top job.

Many are now saying it is a forgone conclusion that the CPDM party will still reinvest Cavaye, to seek re-election as House Speaker.

 Politics around eldest MP role not new

Analysts say what happened yesterday only points to a possible tradition wherein people whom Cavaye is actually older than, have for years been presented to Cameroonians as eldest MPs. 

Before Soppo Toute’s surfacing, it was Hon Laurentine Nkoa Mfegue, who called the shots as eldest MP.

Records show that she was born on August 6, 1945. She passed on to eternity on January 22, 2026, at the age of 81. 

Critics say even though she was wrongly chairing the Provisionary Bureau of the National Assembly as eldest member, it was, indeed Cavaye who was supposed to be occupying the position.

In the days when the late Hon Enoh Tanjong from Manyu in the South West Region, served as eldest MP, the argument didn’t come up. 

This, it is said, was because then, Hon Enoh was actually older than Cavaye.  The Guardian Post gathered that the late Hon Enoh was born on January 15, 1938. He was those three years older than Cavaye. 

When the law is silent 

Amid the criticisms, the Standing Orders of the National Assembly is silent on what the House is currently going through. It is a rare case of a sitting Speaker who is equally the eldest member. The Standing Orders doesn’t spell out what happens when the eldest MP is also a candidate in the bureau position.

Need to ensure peace during twin polls

Meanwhile, Hon Soppo Toute used yesterday’s opening session to call for calm and maturity as Cameroon looks forward to this year’s legislative and municipal elections. She appealed to political parties ready to take in the polls to sensitise their supporters.

She urged political parties “to use the period before the twin elections to assume their responsibilities by effectively providing better guidance and education to their supporters”. 

Soppo Toute said such broad-based engagements would help Cameroon avoid the chaos that followed the presidential election of October 12, 2025.

The article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3728 of Wednesday March 11, 2026