Joe Dinga Pefok (Uncle Joe)
Like In 1990, The Biya Regime Is Using The Victory Of The Indomitable Lionesses At The 14th Edition Of WAFCON In Morocco, To Distract Cameroonians From Serious Issues Facing The Country, Including The Fact That President Biya, And His Entourage, Scandalously Spent Over Two Months On A “Brief Private Stay” In Europe. And Worse Still, As ‘Action Civile 237’ Stated, The Bills Were Paid By Tax Payers.
Over the years, whenever the senior national football team (Indomitable Lions) performs well like in 2017, when Cameroon won the African Nations Cup, AFCON, which held in neighbouring Gabon, the Biya regime would pour money on the players, give them medals, and so on. Also, President Biya would in his address to the nation shower praises on the Indomitable Lions, and call on the Cameroonian youths to be like the Lions, or better still, that they should emulate the example of the Lions.
Meanwhile, following a series of poor performances by the senior male national football team from 2018 to early 2024, President Biya in his traditional address to the Cameroonian youths on February 10, 2024, which was the eve of the national youth day celebration, expressed the frustration of Government over the poor performances. The President fumed that the Government had been allocating huge sums of money to take proper care of the Lions at different matches or competitions, but that the results or performances of the Lions, were not commensurate to the financial sacrifices that were being made by State. It should be noted that the President rarely make mention of any other sports than football, in his address to the nation, whereas there are as many as a total of 54 sports federations in the country, recognized by the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education.
Distraction From The Gov’t’s Failures And Abuses
As aforementioned, the Biya regime has been exploiting victories in football to distract Cameroonians from their misery caused by the failure of the regime to deliver. There are roads across the country, poorly equipped public health facilities, children in some parts of the country like the Far North Region still study under trees, there is no democracy or democratic election in the country there is, poor payment of teachers and doctors leading to many of them leaving the county , there is poor human rights record, there are very high taxes, the Government often indulge in cases of misplaced priorities for the country, thee is much embezzlement of public funds, there is high rate of corruption, thee is constant increase in prices of basic commodities, there is very high cost of living, Cameroon has become a highly indebted poor country, the towns and cities are dirty, there has been much discontent in the country, and so on.
Indomitable Lionesses Win 2026 WAFCON
Meanwhile, the senior female national football team, Indomitable Lionesses, on August 16, 2026 in Rabat, Morocco, won the 14th edition of the Women‘s Africa Cup of Nations, WAFCON. Even though female football is in reality is yet to be really popular in Cameroon, the regime mobilized its propaganda machinery, to generate interest across the country for WAFCON 2026, especially as the senior male national football team had been disappointing for a number of years. The Government increased the financial motivations for the Indomitable Lionesses, raising for example the participation package for each of the 26 players at WAFCON 2026, to as high as 30 million FCFA per player. In addition, huge bonuses were also paid.
When the indomitable Lionesses qualified for final of WAFON 2026, President Biya dispatched a delegation led by Prime Minister Chief Dr Joseph Dion Ngute, on Saturday, August 15, 2026 with an additional bag of money (undisclosed sum), to Morocco, to further motivate the Lionesses , as well as attend the final on Sunday, August 16.
Anger In The Country, Over The President’s Long Stay Outside The Country
It should be noted that the Biya regime, badly needed the victory of the Indomitable Lionesses at WAFCON 2026, for its politics of distraction. It would be recalled that the 93 year old President Paul Biya left the country on June 7, 2026, with a large entourage, for what the Civil Cabinet at the Presidency, said was for a “brief private stay in Europe”. But the President ended up being absent from the country for over two long months. Worse still, there was neither a government communiqué to explain the reason for the unprecedented long stay of President Biya outside the country, nor was the President seen in public anywhere, since he left Cameroon.
The very long absence of 93 year old President Biya from the country, coupled with the fact that he was not seen in public, let to all sorts of rumours on the social media. The situation increased the climate of uncertainty in the country, and also generated a lot of criticisms in the country. Part of the criticisms in the country was caused by the fact the President and his entourage, as the civil society group, ‘Action Civile 237’ rightly stated in a release, were known to be living during that long period outside the country, in a top class international hotel in Switzerland, on Cameroon’s tax payers’ money, even though it was a private visit. Scandalous! This was unfortunately the case, whereas the masses in the country are living in abject poverty, caused by bad governance.
There was thus no doubt that the regime was in difficulties as to how President Biya would return to the country, knowing how bitter many Cameroonians at home and abroad were.
Biya Returns Amidst Celebration Of The Victory Of Lionesses
Fortunately for the regime, came the victory of the senior female national football team (Indomitable Lionesses) in Morocco on Sunday, August 16, 2026, and the triumphal return home, precisely to the nation’s capital, Yaounde, of the Lionesses , on Monday, August 17. They returned to a hilarious welcome by the population. There was happiness in the country over the victory of the Lionesses.
Then on Thursday, August 20, President Biya returned to the country, after scandalously spending 74 days in Europe, or better still, in Switzerland, on a ‘brief private stay”. The return of President Biya a few days after the Indomitable Lionesses won WAFCON 2026 was definitely not a coincidence. The victory of the Lionesses which was greeted with joy by many people, in fact reduced the anger and tension in the country, especially in the nation’s capital, Yaounde, as the Biya regime exploited the victory by mobilizing its machinery including the State media, to try to divert attention from the scandalous long and unexplained absence of the President from the country.
Reception At the Unity Palace
The political distraction or diversion of the population’s attention from issues related to the very long private stay of President Biya outside the country , and more so on tax payers’ money, was crowned with the reception that the presidential couple gave the Indomitable Lionesses at the Unity Palace (Presidency), on Saturday, August 22, 2026. The talk in public since last week is no longer so much focused on the fact that the President spent 74 days on “brief private stay” in Europe, but rather on the reception offered the Lionesses, as well as the fact that the President was on his feet at the ceremony.
Once again, the regime has succeeded to divert the attention of Cameroonians from serious issues rocking the country, by exploiting the victory of the national football team. The regime has once more used football victory as opium, to make many people loss their senses, or go to sleep, while the country continues to sink under the regime. And just like in 1990, President Biya during the reception that the presidential couple offered the Indomitable Lionesses at the Unity Palace on Saturday, August 22, 2026, promised that each of the 26 players will be given a house. This was the second time in the 43 year long period that President Biya has been President of the Republic, that he has made such a promise, and under similar circumstances in the country.
It will not be surprisingly to see that when the focus or talk about the victory of the Indomitable Lionesses at the WAFCON 2026 starts dying down in the country, the Government will try to revive it by funding a tour of the country with the trophy that the Lionesses won at that 14th edition of WAFCON, in line with the regime’s politics of distraction. Worth noting that neighbouring Nigeria has won the WAFCON trophy, eight times.
