Professor Jean Calvin ABA'A OYONO
(University of Yaoundé II)

1- The prerequisite of public law quality

The papal visit episode,
from April 15-18, 2025, has imposed a truce in the soap opera of the incandescent
revision of the Fundamental Law, also called, in the technical language of law, the
Constitution. A return to scientific hostilities is a matter of conscience.
then topical. The institutional storm has hardly subsided in our country.
political environment of usury strategy. Fundamentalist doctrine a la
and has no intention of giving up. Legal science thinks and appears as
the beacon that illuminates dark, debasing contortions.
Two seemingly innocuous postures provide the pretext, because you need to know
reading through the lines. The warning signs of this regime's stories are misleading
rarely a matter of conjecture. The temptation of monarchical transmission of power
mischievously into the Republic, even though it is formally enshrined. It is emerging
on the near horizon. On the one hand, on the occasion of the mass said by Pope
at Yaoundé's 101 air base, Franck BIYA, who has no official position
was seated in the very first place in the ministerial lodge, well
before the Minister of State, Minister of Justice, Keeper of the Seals and other members
who were sitting in the background. On the other hand, during
on the Sunday program Club d'Elites on vison 4, Georges BAONGLA declares: « the
The position of Vice-Chairman cannot go to the neighbor's son. It must go to the
presidential family ». Expressing yourself openly or without gloves on
revives the unfortunate memory of the courtier Jacques FAME NDONGO who, at
In March 2025, on the occasion of a program on Actualité Hebdo, he declared that « the
Paul BIYA's succession is part of a biological logic, if not a political one.
policy ».
Institutions transcend human lifetimes. In other words,
this formula means that the constitutional rules for the devolution of power, the
the status of rulers and the boundaries of state functions have survived the
individuals in forced transit on earth. All processes of formation and reformation
of constitutional law should, in so doing, rid itself of the idea of yielding to the diktat of the
political, deliberately distracted from the popular base, and the egocentric cup
made-to-measure. The future of« res publica »public thing that is the
Republic, and not that of the person of the leader, his thurifer or his
is the only game in town.
From this panoramic, non-partisan point of view, a kind of positivism
The public law doctrine's conscience is forced to take a critical look. The platitude of
observations, as well as simple institutional x-raying, do not provide any
added value to solving the problem of developing the canons of
Governance. These scientific options have no place in the discourse zone.
libertine. The science of law doesn't take kindly to compromising heaviness. Visit
freethinker is the very one who throws off the shackles of his firmness.
reasoning. Optimal use of university franchises entails the following posture
often glorious anarchism from the pulpit. To oppose institutions, not
to consolidate them, with a pleasant, convenient impulse, to appear as a watermark,
as a vulgar instrument at the service of power, is the indispensable credo of
any holder of scientific power. The organic intellectual militates for his cause
personal calculation of administrative income situations. But it's important to cultivate
an elevation of the spirit with a view to positively changing the environment in which
we bathe.
Is it reasonable to allow knowledge to be abused for the sole purpose of
consolidate a set of standards that are organizing the crisis in public law, by giving impetus to
and institutional reform? Do we care about the fundamental rights
and the imperative need for a new approach to our business.
limitation of power to curb dictatorship or the embasilment of the
democracy? It follows from the foregoing that the quality of public law, and more
specifically of constitutional law, is highly controversial.
largely depends on the refusal of any form of thought police. The evaluation of
the coherence and relevance of institutions, without fear or weakness.
The key is to stay riveted to the quest for the truth.
institutional grail. To deviate from this resolutely
is nothing but the ruin of the soul in the light of the premise of the attack
against constitutional law.

2- The seeds of an attack on constitutional law

A remarkable arrangement recurs, like an antiphon or a symphonic sonority, in the
constitutional dynamic of independent Cameroon. Article 5,
old and new of the fundamental law, « the President of the Republic...keeps watch
respect for the Constitution ». It therefore appears as the guarantor of the
harmonious operation of public authorities. The Constitution is the standard
apex of the state. It stands at the pinnacle of the legal order. Any
This erosion inevitably weakens the normative edifice. The boldness displayed by
Supreme Court, ruling in place of the Constitutional Council, which put an end to the
time and incredible scalability for its implementation, is proof enough
that the destruction of the constitutional summit did not fall from the sky. It has
paradoxically begun by the President of the Republic.
Appreciating the photograph of a jurisprudence bud is useful for those who
wants to grasp the seeds of institutional self-flagellation. The Constitution empowers
the Constitutional Council to proclaim the results of the election of deputies, at its
article 48, paragraph 1, while article 50, paragraph 1 stipulates that its « decisions...are
not subject to appeal. They are binding on the public authorities and on all
administrative, military and legal authorities, as well as to any person
physical or moral ».
As the year 2020 draws to a close, the law governing the company will be amended.
rules of procedure of the lower house, the National Assembly. The imperative
internal administrative procedure for validating deputy status instituted in
to further consolidate the regularity of the mandate conferred at the end of the
proclamation of electoral gains and results, had been the subject of a
self-referral to the Court. The jurisprudential extension of the right of referral led, for
For the first time, the contentious dynamics of the review of the constitutionality of the
law to the declaration of unconstitutionality: « the validation procedure provided for by
the rules of procedure of the National Assembly in the law passed and examined by
the Council appears as an a posteriori control of the Council's decision
Constitutionnel declaring elected the candidates to the legislative election. That such a
procedure in force prior to the creation of the Constitutional Council by the
Constitution of January 18, 1996 is no longer relevant in its current form...
As a result of the foregoing, the provisions of the internal regulations
on the validation of mandates... are not in conformity with the provisions of
the Constitution of the Republic of Cameroon ».

However, in order to experiment with regrets that are detrimental to the construction of
the rule of law and pluralist democracy, the President of the Republic had
ensured the full promulgation of the unedited law, rather than the one
including jurisdictional grooming, in flagrant or manifest violation of
the Constitution, which stipulates, in Article 50, paragraph 2, that ’.« a declared decision
unconstitutional may not be promulgated or implemented ». VAR
in the field of sport, by FIFA, inspired the idea of flashing this
an unbelievable breach of political law. Public opinion is thus
witnessed by the fact that the institutional guarantor of the fundamental law is sinking but
the gravedigger, torpedoing his constitutional obligation to which he was
had no regard for. The fiddling of the Constitution and the passage by force
The genesis of these consequential changes can be traced, more or less remotely, to this mania for the
President of the Republic to place himself above the Constitution and the Constituent Assembly
that is the people, thus expressing the latter's quality of making the
constitution. This irregular practice of the Constitution makes the president of the
Republic is the de facto sovereign, not the de jure sovereign, who falls victim to the
banishment. The vacillation of constitutional law observed during the
parliamentary revision of April 4, 2026 is no more and no less than a trend towards
confiscation and patrimonialization of power. Visit
President of the Republic is, in other words, the identified author of the decline of the
constitutional law by its mania for keeping it under wraps. Naive would be all
an observer of the legal scene who says he is surprised by the constitutional revision
consummated on the sidelines of any national debate paving the way for a referendum.

3- The crisis of constitutional law in the context of the retention of the
original sovereignty.

Rediscovering the debate on the stormy constitutional revision is a duplication of effort without glory. The consecration of a three-headed executive, precisely with the post of Vice-President, then of functional continuity in
of the president's institutional retirement, propelling the demigod a
the supreme scale of the presidential god, were the high points. What remains
simply to establish, in doctrine, the normative stumbling blocks or knockers
which have unfortunately been shattered by the forcing of the « owner »
of Cameroon, supported by a parliamentary majority that is obese, in tow and
performer. The history of political institutions is thus archived for posterity.
younger generations.
Many of the Constitution's provisions, when brought into line with one another, give the
unique status to the President of the Republic. He is the beneficiary of the legitimacy
or that it derives its power from the majority votes cast at the ballot box.
The Vice-President, appointed by presidential decree, is not a member of the Executive Board.
by the people, is the grain of sand that prevents the normative fluidity of
departure, thereby making the object of the revision unconstitutional.
« The Republic of Cameroon...is democratic »Article 1 states,
subparagraph 2, paragraph 2. In the following article 2 (new), paragraph 2, it is clearly stated that
prescribes that « the authorities in charge of running the State derive their powers from
people through elections by direct or indirect universal suffrage, except where otherwise provided by law.
contrary to the Constitution »This exception refers to the parallel nomenclature
authorities appointed by the President of the Republic in accordance with articles
8, paragraph 10, and 10, paragraph 1. « The President of the Republic(is)...elected of the nation
in its entirety... »Article 5 (new), paragraph 2. Article 6 (new),
paragraph 1, « The President of the Republic is elected by direct, equal and universal suffrage
secret, by a majority of votes cast ». Article 7 adds, in the words of
paragraphs 1 and 2: «.« (1) The President of the Republic elected goes into operation as soon as
oath of office. (2) He shall take the oath before the people of Cameroon of which he is
the direct, exclusive emanation and beneficiary of its mandate ». Article 63 of the
The Constitution also states: « no revision procedure can be used if
it affects the form republican and to the principles
democratic principles that govern the Republic ». Normative instruments
duly ratified by the State of Cameroon, form part of the bloc of international
constitutionality or enrich this area of domestic public law. For example, the
The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance contains two main principles.
key provisions related to those mentioned above. In article 3.7: « States Parties
undertake to implement the present charter in accordance with the following principles
the following: rejection and condemnation unconstitutional changes
government ». Article 23.5 continues: « The States Parties agree that
the use, among others, of the following means to access or maintain the site
power constitutes an unconstitutional change of government... everything
amendment or any revision of the Constitutions... which undermines the principles
from democratic alternation ».
Last but not least, and this is an important legal argument, we note that
that a mandate entrusted to the President of the Republic, by swearing an oath before
this people on November 06, 2025, a part of whose social contract is to be found
unilaterally modified by instituted transfer of power to a vice-president
the following year, when he had not previously been elected on the same ticke
a sleight of hand that violates the constitutional path according to
which « the law cannot be retroactive ». Two different situations,
in time, are governed by equally sequenced texts. The law does not
providing that for the present and the future, the new revision of the constitution
unilaterally configuring the duo to structure the presidency of the
Republic cannot be applied to the previous situation of presidential exclusivity.
conferred by the collective mandate of an entire people. The constituent does not
expressly established a derogation from democratic legitimacy in this area.
specifically concerning the vice-president appointed by decree of his superior
hierarchy.
A reading of the Constitution reveals a twofold reality. The
functional path of the vice-president will not, at any sequence, have established its
encounter with the principal, the people. Insistence or repetition is the mother
pedagogy. In the same way, it's incongruous to say that he lends
oath before the people, who never appointed him as their representative. This transfer to
forceps of sovereignty is precisely the snag that installs unconstitutionality, because
the President of the Republic cannot transfer to a third party the sovereignty that the
directly conferred on it by election. It is the disposition to
the constitution does not grant it. And Cameroonian constitutionalism
is accustomed to this blatant lack of structural rigor. Passage en force
the Constitution as an instrument of presidential devotion, revives the
the memory of the April 2008 forfeit. Lifting the lock on term limits
had surreptitiously intervened in violation of the tripartite's political agreements,
thus putting an end to the political circulation of presidential elites. This quest
the unbridled confiscation of power by the CPDM alone, seems a lesser evil.
wrong if we direct the gaze of untrained eyes towards the president's unjusticiability
of the Republic. Article 53 (new), paragraph 3, stipulates that «.« actions taken
by the President of the Republic, pursuant to articles 5, 8, 9 and 10 above,
are covered by immunity and will not give rise to any liability on its part at the end of the contract.
its mandate ». In the British monarchy, it was a principle that « the
King can not do wrong ». The result was irresponsibility. The transposition of
this principle in a republican sphere is a legal heresy that does little to disguise how little
consideration given to the Constitution and its purpose, which is to limit the
power and the correlative imperative of accountability. The business
presidential election is inextricably linked to the posture of the accountable citizen.
to the peoples who have chosen him, through the justice that is dispensed in his name.
Authoritarianism is out in the open. And this kind of drift deserves to be exposed.
orbit in connection with the promulgation of the problematic revision law.

4- Authoritarian drift through the instrumentum or form of promulgation
of the constitutional law.

The passage en force has had its octopus effect in holding
all citizens by the throat, as was to be expected in our system.
politics. The revision is drunk to the dregs. Nevertheless, it is clear that
on the roots of the legal drama that is the scouring or grilling use of the
promulgation technique. The procedural background defies all known limits of
the transgression of public law. And it's time to get to the bottom of it, because we thought we were
to the era of royal absolutism in France, during which the
monarch exercised, alongside the executive function, all the power of the state.
by issuing the Edict. The authoritarian drift is illustrated by the enactment of
of the constitutional revision law, in place of the presidential
constitutionally competent or empowered.
Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Article 31 of the Constitution set out two important points
modalities by which we retain the essence of the procedure: « (1) The Chairman of
the Republic promulgates the laws passed by Parliament...(3) Promulgation
is published in the Official Journal of the Republic in French and English. ».
Two peripheral observations should be made at the outset. Using the
formula « promulgation of laws »This is an obvious legal impurity. The
after plenary debates and voting operations, parliament adopts
draft or proposed legislation, as the legislative standard is only matured at its
promulgation. Only the draft or proposal debated is adopted by vote. At this
At the stage of the legislative procedure, the law, in the strict sense of the term, does not exist.
This observation remains valid in the light of article 26, paragraph 1, which states that
states: « the law is passed by parliament ». The vote of the people's elected representatives is
a transitional stage leading to the formalization of the final text. Drafting a
Constitution or any rule of law undoubtedly requires the art of drawing.
« Nemo censetur ignorare legem ». Every citizen is entitled to be informed of the lex
(law) that produces legal effects for it. And the means indicated, the one that binds
the addressee, is to search for the Journal Officiel, abbreviated to J.O, because of the
its constitutional status. The State is obliged to ensure its publication for the prompt
public information. Any other distribution channel is a matter of knowledge.
However, this acquired right is subject to the good faith of the interested party. The law
can only be binding on the citizen insofar as he admits to having had knowledge of it from
unofficially. The constitutional revision law was sent to the public by
public and private press, radio and social networks. But we're not
legally obliged to be on the lookout for these communication media. And the
which relegates the publication of the J.O. to the background, out of predilection for what
the so-called« emergency procedure »which has no constitutional basis,
Article 2 of constitutional revision law no. 2026/002 of April 14, 2016
providing that « This Act shall be registered, published in accordance with the procedure
emergency, then published in the Official Journal in French and English »is a
legal practice to decry or a cliché of legal laziness to correct. The reason
is that the Olympics are a bit of a miasma, something that people talk about but never see.
hardly at all, or at least episodically. An impressive range of
texts are clandestine, never having been published in any medium.
the J.O., following the example of law N°2006/002 of 29
December 2006 on the organization and operation of administrative courts.
Cases of administrative failure are legion, indeed almost systematic. In one
legal text, the only terminal and relevant mention in the final article is the
next, « this law will be registered and published in the Journal Officiel de la
République, in French and English ». Budget appropriations from
compulsory levies, i.e. taxes and duties, are used to cover expenditure.
for the rapid printing of the J.O. It is therefore difficult to understand why
in which the Journal Officiel is an economic good, characterized by its scarcity.
Back to the subject at hand. Amateurism or legal flippancy
with which the promulgation is carried out in Cameroon. What is
so « promulgation of laws »In response to this lame terminology
enshrined in the fundamental law?
It refers to the act by which the President of the Republic attests to
the existence of the law and instructs public authorities to observe and enforce it.
observe its content. It is therefore the legal act that completes
development the text exclusively form and substance. Visit
promulgation is the final act in the sequenced legislative procedure that notes
the regular completion of Parliament's normative process. This leads to
that it is indeed distinct from the publication of the law in the Official Journal.
J.O. Insertion in the J.O. is a material act or a factual datum. Promulgation
is a legal act. Thus, promulgation, an act of law, precedes
and conditions publication of the law, a mere material formality.
However, the legal nature of the act that serves as the basis for the
promulgation. Naturally, Article 26 of the Constitution defines the scope of the
law, while 27 prescribes the rest of the field to the regulatory domain of the
President of the Republic, except as otherwise provided in article 28, which allows
the latter to intervene in the legislative field by means of ordinances duly issued.
ratified. The exercise of presidential powers, as in the present case, and
once the text has been adopted by parliament, is carried out by the act's bill
decisive unilateral administrative decision, and specifically by decree, which is the weapon
President of the Republic intervening in his non-legislative domain.
Where does it come from, then, that in the Cameroon of legal oddities, the President of the
Republic ensures the promulgation of the law, indicated as such in its title, by
occurrence « law no. 2026/002 of April 14 amending and supplementing certain
provisions of the constitution of June 02, 1972 as amended and supplemented by law no.
96 /06 of January 18, 1996 and law n°2008/01 of April 14, 2008 »emerging in the
at the bottom of the text previously marked as « deliberated and adopted by the
parliament » ? Has he become a legislator, in the absence of a ratified ordinance, when we note
that the affixing of the signature makes it possible to identify the author of the deed.
normative? The law is a matter for parliament, of course! the above-mentioned form of
promulgation of laws, its instrumentum precisely, sheds light on illiteracy
that does no honor to Cameroonian public law. We must
get out of villagism or legal peasantry as quickly as possible. Only a decree from
promulgation accompanies the text deliberated, voted on, adopted and authenticated by the
parliament. The common practice which, it must be stressed, permeates our daily lives
bastard of legislative production, gives rise to a serious problem of legal non-existence
of the pseudo law signed by the President of the Republic. Rules of jurisdiction
are a matter of public policy. This is no more and no less than a serious form of
incompetence, known in administrative litigation law as usurpation of authority.
powers. The legal anomaly arises when a natural person, a public body
or private, issues an act in the absence of any legal authorization, written title or
customary. The heresy with which the presidential cavalcade intends to rule in the
Cameroun encourages us to question the underlying forces.

5- Conclusions on the freewheeling confiscation of power.

Nothing can stop the activation of this hypertrophy of the
presidential function. It unfolds blithely without institutional counterweight.
The Constitution is customarily revised at will, according to the Prince's wishes, and
in violation of everything. The politico-legal cloak surrounding the operations
normatrices poorly disguises the determination to instill in weak minds,
complicit and consequently resigned, personal power, which would be transmitted under
an almost dynastic form. There is only one master aboard the boat
Cameroon: the presidential helmsman. His companions ensure his
accompaniment. The divisive constitutional revision that is tearing opinion apart
fractured, fragmented and shattered, this solitary President doesn't care. What is the
understanding of article 5 (new) of the Constitution, which requires him to
obligation embodies(r) national unity instead of normativism
partisanship that falls, unceremoniously, on our heads » ? What about the spirit of the Constitution?,
contained in the statements of political doctrine in the preamble, and set out in the following terms
of a unitary nation and the building of a homeland based on the ideals of fraternity, peace and justice.
justice and progress?
A modern state, if it is not managed on an inclusive basis and
correlatively consensual, rises, in broad daylight, in all its states in
burst! Let's be more explicit in our verbalism. The root cause of
the constitutional revision is more instructive than its consequences. Visit
His Holiness Pope LEON XIV's African tour of Cameroon provided an opportunity to
to kill two birds with one stone. This spiritual authority has, in an unprecedented way, undermined
the sensibility of power by reciting a string of sufferings inflicted on the people,
following in the footsteps of the endless criticisms that the opposition, civil society
and the rare caste of courageous academics have been formulating for ages. Rome
erupted without incurring kidnapping and imprisonment in cells served under the title of
responses to the use of tyrannized freedom of expression. What's more, what was being whispered
on the sly or under the radar, for fear of reprisals from authorities with a reputation to uphold.
violent, oppressive and repressive, was confirmed on mondovision.
The President of the Republic's physical difficulty in moving around has moved public opinion.
CRTV journalists' communication failures corroborate
observation, visu, a crime never being perfect: « it walks alone...it holds
standing... fantastic public appearance... we can't hold him ». The youyous of the
to the indecent comedy, the very same ones who will return to the
their jackets today that won't be tomorrow. This last aspect expresses
the mischievous way in which the revision issue is handled
constitutional. This manoeuvre is surreptitiously designed to ensure the system's survival.
and massively rejected on the occasion of the
chaotic election on October 12, 2025. Organizing an a-democratic transition and
is the subterranean objective of the institutional reform with the effectiveness
questioned. Without democratic legitimacy, a Vice-President appointed by decree
can accede to the supreme power, which rests with the will of the people. Running away from
popular suffrage makes the State a constantly thickening corpse. We must not
presidential elections until 2032 in the event that the President should
be definitively prevented. The internal political pass is the soul of this
nauseating reform. In this context, it's worth mentioning that the Vice
President will carry the functional load that has become burdensome for the
optimal physical incapacity to ensure the General Direction of the State. Deafness
of power leads to its suicidal progression, which paralyzes the need to reform the
reform due to poor form.
But should we resign ourselves without acts of resistance? Even in the face of
the threat of death, integrate tyranny into his daily life and swallow the fact that the
is a sin of lèse-majesté constitutes the worst humiliation that the
dictatorial power inflicts on every man of legal sciences
aware of its twofold historical responsibility, both here on earth and before it. Deo. The
scandolousie en crevettonie restores, with the benefit of the developments which
The above is a radioscopy of our institutional secretions. The forfeit passes
like a letter, in plain sight. And the holder of sovereignty
to defend its dignity in the choice of its destiny in the Republic
damaged. What do you gain by chosing an entire people by relegating them to the scrap heap of a
torchon whose life has been phagocytosed? is there even an ounce of real fear of the
his holy scriptures should be able to bring us back to the reason of
the insurmountable red line for those in power. The combination of
Ecclesiastes 1:2 and 3:1 hammer home the point that all is vanity in time.
given to all by God.

By Professor Jean Calvin ABA'A OYONO (University of Yaoundé II)