By Hans Ngala
Renowned Cameroonian lawyer and human rights activist, Agbor Balla stated that “At 93, you don’t have a future. You have a past”. Balla was speaking to German broadcaster, DW on Saturday when he made his remarks. He was answering a question from DW anchor, Christine Mhundwa about what would happen if Biya ended up passing on in office.
Mhundwa asked: “President Biya is old or is believed to have been experiencing health problems. Assuming he wins another term, what would happen if he were to die in office? This is somebody who has had a grip on power now for decades”
Balla began by saying that “Biya has been in power for close to…is it 42 or 43 years. You know, from an African perspective, you don’t wish death for anybody. You know the way we are. But it’s also a part of life, that we are born, we live and we end up dying”, the head of the Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Africa stated. He added that “if something happened and he is not able to govern the country, then we will need to call another election and that’s my worry because at 93, it’s not just about somebody dying but I personally think that, you know…First of all, I want to put it on record that age is not a limiting factor for somebody to run for elections to be a president because it’s a fundamental right – you can be a president at whatever age. But realistically, in a country where majority (about 70 percent of the population) are young men and women, you cannot tell me that it’s a 93-year-old person who is the best candidate to be the president of a country, let’s be honest. Because at 93, you don’t have a future, you have a past. You cannot be building; you cannot be building for the future because there are going to be health issues as a result of age which is normal okay? It happens.”
Balla went on to state that those who have lived with an aging parent have experienced how difficult it is to care for them because their ability to work gets significantly impeded by the onset of numerous health and cognitive issues.
“So definitely, if he wins in October, I believe that he will not be able to complete the mandate and then there will be a need for another election” Barrister Balla said further in his interview.
He questioned why the CPDM party – Biya’s party didn’t have a different candidate who is also from the same party, to stand for the election instead.
