Magazine Review : Paul Biya’s Listening Ear

With the headline, “Always Attentive,” the March-May 2020 issue of the quarterly magazine, “Le Temps des Opportunites,” produced by the presidency, is out. The 66-page full-colour glossy edition with pictures of President Paul Biya and First Lady Chantal Biya, is divided into seven sections. 
The issue revisits President Biya’s speech on May 19, 2020 on the Coronavirus pandemic. The introduction to the President’s speech entitled, “Pitched battle against COVID-19,” says “Faced with the challenges posed by the current health crisis, President Paul Biya summoned Cameroonians to exercise a sense of responsibility and discipline.” An excerpt from the presidential speech contains government’s plans to improve healthcare services in the face of the health crisis.  
The Head of State’s nations address came in the wake of the postponement of the celebration of the National Day on May 20, 20202 because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The first such postponement in Cameroon’s post-independence history was in 1984 because of the aborted bloody coup of April 6, 1984. 
In his editorial, “Paul Biya’s Response,” Samuel Mvondo Ayolo, Minister, Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency, highlights the activities carried out by the President and wife, Mrs. Chantal Biya, from March to May 2020. These include the fight against COVID-19 and the presidential couple’s donations to combat the pandemic. Other major activities included the publication by the Presidency of the commi...