Biya longest serving public servant in Cameroon!.

His perpetuity in public office has manifested under sometimes challenging, at other times easy but more emphatically, due to his reclusive political character.

For many observers, Biya has across decades, been the last man standing, yet, he is not always the loudest of the season. Biya the career civil servant and Biya the Head of State, in the analyses of many, have one common trait- silence and consistency.

His story today is being retold in his lifetime as being that of a man who, in his boyhood after a brilliant education in France, pitched tent on the lower rungs of power. 

This was sometimes in October 1962, after the son of the Catechist, whom, reports hold, had earlier been guided on a path of priesthood, before switching to pursue a public service career.

From the age of 29, when he landed the appointment of Charge des Mission at the Presidency of the Republic, Biya, now 93, has transcended the positions of public life that matter most in the life of the nation.

For some, the decades of his experience in service have left many stating that his name is now synonymous to the country Cameroon. 

Biya, in the thinking of many, is no ordinary man. There are those who reflect on his story as being that of a rare human being who, sometimes, is born once in every century.

In Cameroon, the Head of State is being classed among rare citizens who have lived almost their entire lives in public offices. 

His repertoire is that of a man who has reincarnated himself across epochs, matching the demands of every generation and facing headwinds that have oftentimes, swept away his contemporaries in the process.

Not many who started public service life in October 1962, like Paul Biya, are still alive to tell their stories. Even for those of his age still alive, they have not enjoyed the grace of occupying successive high profile public offices like the current Unity Palace tenant.

In the realm of Presidential matters, Biya is also among record holders and breakers. Several of those who accessed power in 1982 and the early 90s, when he was in the first decade of his Presidency, have either retired from politics or lost political relevance.

Yet, Biya, the miracle man of sorts from Cameroon, has stayed constant, relevant, enigmatic and at best a phenomenon.

Given his 64 years and still counting in the public service, Biya has seen the good, the bad and the ugly. His popularity is still within the fringes of outclassing younger persons in politics, even with the reality of age that is natural to man.

Days of little beginning 

Records show that within barely two years of being absorbed as Charge de Mission at the Presidency, Biya was again named Chief of Cabinet to the Minister of National Education in January 1964. A year later, he became scribe of the Ministry of National Education.

It took just three years for his meteoric rise to continue. Biya was raised to the position of Secretary General at the Presidency, cumulatively with the post of Director of Civil Cabinet. This was in January 1968.

The bigger picture signals 

Perhaps, in his repeatedly recounted, silent and focused nature, Biya won the admiration of his bosses. His presence in government is said to have taken a positive twist, when he was named scribe of the Presidency in January 1968. 

Within four years, Biya now 93, was raised to the rank of Minister of State while still heading the Secretariat of the Presidency. 

June 30, 1975, is the day he got the job of Prime Minister. On June 29, 1979, four years after he became Prime Minister, the Constitution was tinkered, making the Prime Minister the Constitutional successor of the Head of State.

The world of a President since 1982

At best, the fullness of Biya’s destiny opened up to many, when the former President, the late Ahmadou Ahidjo, resigned on November 4, 1982, and handpicked Biya as his successor. Biya was subsequently sworn in as Head of State, on November 6, 1982. 

Since then, it has been 44 years and still counting with Biya as Head of State of the Republic of Cameroon.

Biya did not waste any time when at the end of the fourth congress of the Cameroon National Union, CNU, the Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, CPDM, was born in Bamenda, March 24, 1985.

On the ticket of the CPDM, Biya has implanted his vision and ideology nationwide. He has won consecutive Presidential elections. Among them are; the Presidential elections of April 24, 1988; October 12, 1992; October 12, 1997; October 11, 2004; October 7, 2018; and October 12, 2025.

Except for the election of April 1988, Biya fought to be retain the office of President of the Republic in the other polls under a multiparty dispensation.

The man for everybody & nobody

In the theatrics of politics, one of the chapters of Biya’s 64 years and still counting in public life are those he has been serving as Head of State. 

The man of November 6, 1982, who appealed to a brought spectrum of the population, is today referenced as the leader for everybody who is actually with nobody.

Those making these inferences say they are concluding based on President Biya’s unmoved postures. This, they say, is especially visible when it comes to persons who, across the last four decades, have always appeared as untouchables.

The history of Biya’s Presidency in the last 44 years and still counting, is laced with mighty men and political foot soldiers who have crashed at unexpected times. 

Some were sent packing from government when people least expected while others ended up in jail for tempering with the public till. 

Biya masters political divorce and recreating political alliances, dismantling storms, and looking everyone from a kingly position, even in amid death rumours.

Mocks peddlers of death rumours 

Biya has not only survived hurdles as a leader in over 43 years as Head of State. He has also survived several death rumours. 

Rumour mongers have for decades too been peddling unfounded information about his time on earth having ended.

Most of such rumours have always emanated when he is abroad like is the case in the last 53 days and still counting. But for his supporters who have often responded to such rumours, Biya came out once on such rumours in June 2004.

Then, he returned from a trip in Europe and addressed the media at the Yaounde Nsimalen International Airport, telling those interested in his funeral to wait for 20 more years. 

That rendezvous expired in June 2004. Yet, Biya continues to serve as Head of State. He has a new mandate in hand, secured on October 12, 2025, with a catalogue of promises, especially for women and the youth.

Nine months after the election, Biya, who renewed his commitment to public service on November 6, 2025, while being sworn-in, observers are saying, has done little or nothing to match such fresh promises.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3862 of Wednesday July 29, 2026