President Paul Biya a Guarantor of Peace, National Integration
Some call him the grand master, others call him a perfect strategist while others prefer to address him as the ice breaker. All these qualities merely depicts the character of a States Man who holds his people so close to his heart and has toiled throughout his helm in power to make sure that Cameroon and the Central African Sub-Region remains a safe haven for peace and national integration.
Emmanuel NGOTA
November 6, 1982, is a day many Cameroonians in and out of the country won’t forget in a hurry when the then President of the Republic of Cameroon, Ahmadou Ahidjo relinquished the throne of the Republic with piece meal to his constitutional heir, Paul Biya. Unfortunately as some critics puts it “President Paul Biya, the incumbent has a rugged journey in the management of state affairs in respect to his youthful profile to project the vision for the wellbeing of the people he is to govern”
This criticism coupled with others only came to galvanize the enthusiastic President who has a mastery of the internal cuisine of the State’s machinery as he has once served in the government as Prime Minister. In the face of these challenges experienced by Cameroon over time, President Paul Biya took the baton of command as he braved the odds uncounted in the domain of security, politics, economic as well as the social dealings of the State. Through his sweeping dogmata put in place to curb these dares, he gained the hearts of the people who were longing for change.
Looking at the global change in events as far as security is concern with the technological and scientific advances, President Paul Biya who doubles as the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, stretches his hands of proficiency to secure persons and their property for a thriving Nation which was still at the juncture of maturation. It is in this backdrop that he kerbed in the Cameroon Defence Forces to play a vital role in Nation building.
To play a vital role in Nation building, the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces thought it wise to streamline the command chain of the Ministry of Defence from the central to territorial services with an objective to suit the present security context. It is in this context that President Paul Biya signed the 21 alterations of the military on the 25th of July 2001. This reorganisation was a new leaf of the Cameroon Armed Forces which cuts across professionalization, rejuvenation and the equipping of the different components that make up the Cameroon Defence Forces in order to improve on the operational capacity of the National Gendarmerie, the Infantry, the Air Force and the Navy.
For the sake of peace to reign in the turbulent Central African Sub-Region and Cameroon in particular, the underwriter of peace placed the Cameroon Armed Forces to a challenge to satisfactorily discharge their burden duty in defending the territorial integrity of the Nation in ensuring the free movement of persons and their goods and at the same time preserving Republican institutions.