AFRICAN POLITICS | CAMEROON Years Abroad, Months at Home: Paul Biya Mocked for ‘Visiting’ His Ow...
Years Abroad, Months at Home: Paul Biya Mocked for ‘Visiting’ His Own Country After Extended Swiss Stays
Written By: Rael Ombuor | Published: October 22, 2026 | 4 min read
Paul Biya has been president of Cameroon since 1982. Now serving his eighth term after a heavily disputed reelection last year, he will be 99 years old at the end of his mandate. Nearly half the country has known no other president. But that is not even the most unusual fact about his authoritarian rule.
What has gained a renewed round of attention in recent days is that Biya appears to spend the vast majority of his time in Switzerland. His return to Cameroon this week sparked a wave of online criticism and dark humor from citizens who felt as though the country was receiving an official state visit—from its own president.
A "State Visit" to His Own Country
As Cameroon struggles with widespread unemployment and a brutal secessionist conflict that has been raging for close to a decade, the president's sudden reappearance in Yaoundé provided grim comedic relief for the youth.
The TikTok and X Backlash
A tongue-in-cheek headline went viral across West and Central African social media platforms, reading: “President of Cameroon, the 93-year-old Paul Biya, is expected to visit Cameroon next week!”
User Pr7ation captured the national mood perfectly in a viral TikTok video, stating: “The people of Cameroon, I wonder how you feel because how do you tell me that a whole head of state will be visiting you?”
Decades in Power, Years Abroad
How much time does Paul Biya actually spend out of the country? The numbers are staggering for a sitting head of state.
Ruling on "Autopilot"
The Cameroonian government has consistently defended the president's extended Swiss trips, hastily dismissing reports of his failing health. But the optics of a completely absent leader remain difficult to ignore, especially during critical political moments.
"In his 2025 campaign for an eighth term, President Biya was largely absent from his own political rallies."
The government insists that Biya manages to operate the country remotely from Geneva. Remarkably, they claim he does this efficiently even with the vice presidency vacant and a domestic crisis boiling over in the Anglophone regions. The government did not respond immediately to requests for comment regarding his latest travels.
The Geopolitical Takeaway
"When a population views their leader as a tourist, the social contract is already broken."
Paul Biya's situation represents a unique extreme in African politics. While many aging leaders cling to power, few do so while physically absent from the nation they claim to govern for months at a time.
Conclusion: The jokes on TikTok mask a grim reality for Cameroon. A nation cannot be indefinitely governed from a Swiss hotel suite while internal conflicts and economic stagnation ravage the home front.
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