The mystery surrounding Vice President post!.

Though an Anglophone slot at reunification, it was abolished during the 1988 Constitutional revision and replaced with that of Prime Minister.

In April this year, the full house of lawmakers, comprising both the National Assembly and the Senate, convened for an exceptional Congress. 

Their duty was to tinker the Constitution to create the post of “Vice President, who may be appointed or dismissed by the President of the Republic. The term of office of the Vice President may not exceed that of the President. The Vice President would assume office in the event of a permanent vacancy of the Head of State. The post of Prime Minister is maintained”.

It was said to be an “innovation” expected to remain consistent with the management of “socio-cultural balances, Cameroon’s political geography, and to provide reassurance regarding succession prospects of the Head of State”.

In mid-April, President Biya promulgated the bill into law, despite some shrill but insignificant opposition voices. 

Immediate expectation was for him to appoint the Vice President. Speculation was rife as to who should be the lucky pick, with some cynics even issuing fake decrees appointing the son of President Biya, Franc Emmanuel Biya, as if the country is a monarchy.

Articulate commentators however argued that it was a position that should be reserved for the people of the North West and South West Regions, who as a State, joined the former East Cameroon State on condition that when a Francophone is President, the Vice President should be an Anglophone and vice versa. 

Banking on the spirit of the Foumban Conference, it was also seen as appeasing Anglophone separatists and Federalists, who have been agitating, claiming to have been relegated to the fourth position of Prime Minister’s Office in the power architecture. 

President Paul Biya, reputed for his unpredictability, has kept the choice of Vice President under wrap. But pressure and conjectures are mounting.

Last week, one of the frontline vocal opposition leaders, Hon Cabral Libii, in a media letter circulated on social media, asked the President to fill the Vice Presidency- a role that in his view, is not merely a matter of political convenience. 

"The office of Vice President establishes a genuine legal framework for support," he said.

He added that "the Vice Presidency is not just another administrative post to be filled. Appointing a Vice President means securing your tenure. I am aware of the crisis of trust plaguing your inner circle. However, after more than four decades at the helm of State, there are one or two figures who tick all the boxes regarding loyalty, discretion, and experience in State affairs".

But as another political figure and prominent lawyer, Barrister Michelle Ndoki, has also written this week, the post of Vice President is a “trap” to the President.

Her logic is that the Vice President is appointed by the Head of State. 

Crucially, should the Presidency become vacant, due to the President's death, resignation, or permanent incapacity, the appointed (rather than elected) Vice President assumes power and completes the remainder of a Presidential term for which he never received a mandate.

She explained that “For years, the current institutional framework may have seemed reassuring to those already holding power. However, once the office of Vice President is filled, the situation will change. The very institution that many view as a guardian of the established order could one day be called upon to adjudicate a question of incapacity pitting two power centres within that same system against each other. This is where, in my view, the trap lies.”

The Constitutional reform was intended to ensure the “continuity of power. Yet, it also created a Constitutional successor with direct access to the highest office and a role in triggering incapacity proceedings. 

This might explain why several months after the position was established, no Vice President has been appointed,” the legal mind rested her submission.

By her argument, an ambitious, egoistic and overzealous Vice President, the only person with legal power to declare the incapacity of the Head of State, can do so, even against the will of the incumbent and become Head of State, without the mandate of the people! 

That may be why President Biya is taking his time, watching and observing the various contestants said to be in a clan war to know who to trust.   

The man of Man of Experience knows so well that some civil servants once given power without being elected, can become overly sure of their own ideas and less open to advice. 

They can often shift from the man who appointed them to protect their own position and reinforce their political power, just like the incumbent rightly did not take dictates from his Constitutional predecessor.

Whether the post of Vice President is a trap or blessing to “maintain continuity” of the CPDM in power, it has been Constitutionally instituted.

When the Constitution is amended to address immediate partisan political issues of regime “continuity,” the consequences could become predictable, which might explain the delay in appointing a Vice President. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3918 of Wednesday September 23, 2026