Other Countries Vote at 18, Cameroon Does it at 20: How Biya Grips Onto Power
By Hans Ngala
Most countries around the world allow their citizens to begin voting at age 18. On July 17, the UK announced that it was lowering its voting age to 16 from 18. This means that millions of teenagers aged 16 and 17 will now be eligible to vote. “The government said it would be fairer for 16- and 17-year-olds, many of whom already work and are able to serve in the military. Keir Starmer said it was important that teenagers who paid taxes had their say on how the money was spent” the UK’s The Guardian reported.
In Cameroon, the voting age stands at 20 – an age that was arrived at following deliberations with Paul Biya’s regime in the 1991 tripartite discussions. Initially, Biya’s government was aiming at setting the voting age at 21, but after discussions, 20 was arrived at as a compromise between opposition parties (who were in fact demanding that the age be set at 18) and Biya’s government.
Decades later, the calls for Biya’s now-43-year regime, to lower the voting age to 18. This call to lower voters’ age, has been championed more fiercely in particular by the Network for Solidarity Empowerment and Transformation for All (NewSETA), a Yaounde-based civil society organization that leads initiatives for good governance and transparency. It’s founder and former executive director, Ateki Seta Caxton argues that “Young people below 20, make up the majority of the population. Denying them the right to vote, is denying an essential right to more than half of the population”. He goes on to explain that “Cameroon has a population of over 24 million people with a median age of about 18 years. This means that when the population is divided in two parts, half (i.e. over 12 million people) will be below the age of 18 and the other half above 18. There are about 2 million people between the age of 18 and 20. When you add that to the population below 18, that gives 14 million people i.e. about 60 % of the population of Cameroon. Placing the voting age in Cameroon at 20 therefore means that only 40% of Cameroonians have been granted the right to vote in our elections. This is unfair in a democracy”.
Similar to the case of the UK mentioned earlier, Ateki argues that “18-year-olds have been granted other rights and responsibilities with equal substance as the right to vote. Article 80(4) of the 2016 Penal Code of Cameroon states that a person aged 18 (eighteen) years or above shall be responsible as an adult. They can begin to work and pay taxes at that age, they can get married at 18 and sometimes, at 15 years for girls. They are recruited into the military at 18, they are ascribed full criminal responsibility and face jail terms at 18, they are established ID cards at 18 and sometimes they allow them to observe elections at 18. We believe that if an 18-year-old is recognized as capable of handling a gun, and a family, they should be allowed to handle a ballot”.
It seems therefore, that keeping the voting age in Cameroon at 20 – while Cameroon’s neighbors such as Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea and Gabon have all set the voting age at 18 – is a calculated move by lifetime president, Paul Biya to reduce the potential of any opposition ousting him through the ballot, by effectively keeping roughly 60% of the population from even voting.
Other tactics his government uses include using the National Communication Council (NCC) as a way to gag the press, controlling the narrative and cracking down on any coverage that criticizes Biya or that promotes political opponents – all this while Biya remains secluded from public view and doesn’t bother to do any political campaigns. Biya never vacates the presidential residence but keeps on living there – a clear sign that he has assumed victory even before the elections take place or results are declared.
