Recycled Power, Permanent War: Yaoundé’s New Cabinet Exposes a State That Cannot Reform

This new cabinet leak, is not a reset. It is a holding pattern for a failing order. A government that answers crisis with recycling has already admitted defeat. History will not remember this cabinet as a solution—but as evidence.

By Kfusalu Bochong and Mankah Rosa Parks, The Independentistnews Editorial Desk

A Cabinet of Survival, Not Reform

There is nothing “new” about Yaoundé’s latest cabinet—except the desperation it reveals. The leaked lineup is not a government of transition, reconciliation, or reform. It is a reshuffle of survival, a circular parade of familiar names whose sole mandate is to preserve power, manage succession anxiety, and continue a war policy that has failed morally, politically, and strategically. Under Paul Biya, the Cameroonian state no longer governs by consent. It governs by recycling loyalty.

Security First, Peace Last

Continuity dressed as change is most visible in the coercive core. Defence remains under Joseph Béti Assomo. Territorial Administration stays with Midjiyawa Bakary. Justice is handed to Leslie Formine Forbang. National security remains untouched. These are not neutral bureaucratic choices; they are confirmations of intent. When the same men retain the same instruments after years of mass displacement, civilian killings, and scorched-earth operations, the message is unmistakable: the war continues by design.

The Presidency Above the State

Power remains concentrated at the apex. Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh retains control of External Relations from the presidency’s inner ring, while Paul Atanga Nji and other Ministers of Mission orbit the Palace, answerable upward, not outward. This architecture subordinates cabinet government to presidential command and reduces ministries to implementation arms.

Anglophone Inclusion as Theatre

Anglophone names appear again—carefully placed, tightly constrained, stripped of authority. Pauline Nalova Lyonga remains in a social portfolio. Paul Elung Che stays in education. Kelly Mua Kingsley appears as a deputy at the Presidency. This is governance as theater: representation without responsibility, inclusion without influence. The pattern is consistent—Anglophones are invited to legitimate the system, not to shape it.

Decentralisation Without Devolution

A Ministry of Decentralisation exists, now under Viviane Madeleine Ondoua Biwolé, yet fiscal, security, and administrative control remain anchored to the Presidency and Finance. No revenue autonomy. No elected regional authority. No security devolution. This is not decentralisation; it is administrative ventriloquism—local mouths speaking central commands.

Economic Technocrats, Political Paralysis

Finance goes to Modeste Mopa Fatoing; Economy and Planning to Ibrahim Talba Malla. These appointments signal macro-management amid political paralysis. Technocrats can balance ledgers, but they cannot resolve a legitimacy crisis rooted in exclusion and force.

The Commonwealth as Optics

A Minister Delegate for Commonwealth Affairs, Gang Benyela Augustine, is named—yet there is no ceasefire, no federal discussion, no accountability. The signal is cosmetic compliance. The Commonwealth is worn as a badge, not honored as a standard. The emptiness of this gesture further indicts international silence.

Succession Anxiety on Display

The expansion of presidential missions and loyalist custodians—alongside figures like Louis Paul Motaze as Secretary General of the Presidency—betrays a regime planning for life after Biya, not for national reconciliation. This is regime insurance, not national planning.

Why This Matters to Ambazonia

For Ambazonia, the cabinet clarifies rather than discourages. It proves that internal reform is structurally impossible, dialogue without international guarantees is futile, the war is policy not accident, and legitimacy has collapsed from within. A state that cannot renew itself cannot claim the right to rule others.

The Verdict

This new cabinet leak, is not a reset. It is a holding pattern for a failing order. A government that answers crisis with recycling has already admitted defeat. History will not remember this cabinet as a solution—but as evidence.

Kfusalu Bochong and Mankah Rosa Parks