Experts Say 2025 Presidential Election In Cameroon, Will Be Fought On The Social Media

 Says in this adroit or digital age, the population is on the social media, and any serious political party has no choice than to follow them there.

A number of experts that participated in a panel discussion and debate, in the flagship programme of Vision 4 Tv Yaounde known as CLUB D’ELITES, on Sunday, January 12, 2025, were unanimous that the crucial 2025 presidential election in Cameroon, will be fought on the social media, and thus advised all political parties that will be involved in the election to be prepared for that.  The topic of the panel discussion that had as moderator,   Bruno Bidjang, was: ‘PRESIDENTIELLE 2025 –   L’EPREUVE DE L’INFORMATION ET DESINFORMATION’, that is, 2025 PRESIDENTIAL – THE TEST OF INFORMATION AND DISINFORMATION.

The panelists included Prof Claude ABE, Dr Serge GORDONG, Jean Lambert NANG, and Prof Jean Calvin ABA’A OYONO. Worthy of note that Jean Lambert Nang,  a senior and talented journalist,  former chief of the sports service at CRTV, became a household name in Cameroon and beyond as a brilliant sports commentator and analysts, Nang is currently a senior official in the Ministry of Communication. Nang has over the years been known for his outspokenness despite the odds, and has maintained that spirit till date.

Digital Age (Adroit Age)

Meanwhile the panelists in the discussion and debate programme over Vision 4 Tv on January 12, 2025, noted that we are now living in the 21th century, and that, we currently in the digital or adroit age, which is much different from the world of the 20^th century.  That we are not in an age where everything is in the telephone (Adroit Phone)., everything is in  the laptop. They noted that the world over including Cameroon, the population or better still a large majority of the population of both youths and adults, are on the social media, and so any serious political party in Cameroon that is not yet on social media, has to adapt fast to the changed situation. “The population today is on the social media, and so any serious political party has to follow them there, or will be in serious trouble. The social media today is not a matter of whether you like it or not. It is a necessity. You have no choice than to embrace or accept the social media.. The social media is today’s world”, they asserted.

Prof Claude Abe said there are a number of things happening in the social media that he does not like, but that that there is just no way he can leave the social media. “I have my Facebook page, and nobody can take it away from me, for whatever reason’, he added.

 Only A Few Political Leaders / Members Of Government

The experts observed that members of the Cameroon Government in general are absent from the social media. They noted only some three members of Government out of the over 50, are active on the social media.  The three ministers are Gregoire Owona (Minister of Labour and Social Security), Dr Manaouda Malachie (Minister of Public Health), and Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo *Minister of Higher Education). The experts also noted that very few ministries have websites. They pointed out that as result,  the Cameroon Government in general is absent from the social media, with all the negative consequences. As a result, the large majority of the country’s population that are on social media, do not get government’s information, with the exception of some communiqués and speeches that are posted or shared on the social media.

The experts also observed that political leaders in Cameroon today, with a few exceptions like Cabral Libii Ngue of PCRN, are not present or active on social media; one of the reasons why their messages or their reactions to certain  issues, do not sink into the population, with all the consequences.

President Biya Does Not Communicate Even With Close Collaborators

The social media aside, the experts observed that the President of Republic, Paul Biya, himself does not communicate even with close collaborators. Dr Serge Gordong, said it was really scandalous at the ceremony for presentation of new year wishes at the Presidency, that the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, Joseph Beti Assomou, and the Minister of Territorial Administration, Paul Atanga Nji, whom President Biya spoke with for a couple of seconds, became ‘stars’ because the President spoke with them. He said some people even started trying to find what the President told them. Terrible!. He said this was certainly because the President does not communicate.

Dr Gordong rightly stated that in other countries, it would be a non – event when the President speaks to a collaborator in public, because the President speaks with his collaborators regularly and in appropriate places. He stressed it is not at public ceremony that the President of a country talked on any serious issue to one of his collaborators, as such a  things is supposed to be discussed in – house. He said what happened at the Presidency on the day of the presentation of  new year wishes to the President of  the Republic, was  clear evidence that President Biya does not communiqué with his collaborators, and that he only talk to some of them at the at ceremonies including the airport, while leaving the country or returning to the country, as they rarely see him. Shameful Indeed!

Government Is Supposed To Be Proactive / Ministry Of Communication

 The experts also chided the Cameroon Government for not only being very slow in communicating, that is, when it decides once in a while to communicate. The stressed that the Government is never proactive, as the Government only comes later to react and make complaints. The cited the recent case of the alleged sickness of President Biya in Switzerland, when lots of rumours or allegations circulated on the social media for a longtime, before the Government finally reacted. They noted that even when   the Government had to finally react, it was done in a very chaotic manner, with a number of press releases issued by different personalities on the same subject and on the same day. Worst, of all, the experts noted that the communiqués contradicted each other, thus creating more confusion in the minds of the Cameroonian people.

“The Government Does Not Care About The Ministry Of Communication”

Meanwhile, the senior official at the Ministry of Communication, Jean Lambert Nang, who as aforementioned was a member of the panel  discussion, defended his ministry against allegation that the ministry was not effectively playing its role in the society or country, as Communication Ministries in other countries do. Nang was blunt that the problem facing the Ministry of Communication in Cameroon is not the lack of competent personnel or the lack of will to work, but rather the lack of both financial and material means for the personnel to do the work. Nang cried out that the Cameroon Government threats the Ministry of Communication so unfairly or so shabbily.

“Look at the annual budget always allocated to the Ministry of Communication. It is apparently the lowest among ministries. What can the Ministry of communication do with a tiny budget of 4 billion FCFA?”, he questioned. He noted that the Ministry of Communication does not have the means to open   an internet centre, and that both the Central and external services of the ministry face a lot of problems because of the lack of funds. Nang said when he sees what the Ministry of Communication in other countries do, he is a shame, but that without the means, there is nothing that Cameroons Ministry of Communication can do, than to operate within the limit of the small budget they have. “Information is costly, and the Cameroon Government ought to know that “, he asserted. He reiterated that the Ministry of Communication needs the financial and material means, to do its work.