Young people and other Cameroonians who spoke to this authoritative newspaper on 11 February said the 102 billion special youth plan promised them by the Head of State on Youth Day’s eve was non-specific and utterly revolting. They called it another hoax of President Biya’s.


As is the tradition, President Paul Biya made an address to the youth on the eve of 11 February, celebrated in Cameroon as Youth Day. The President usually seizes this opportunity to make special promises to his young compatriots, some of which he fulfills. The special promise he made this year was that of launching a special youth plan worth 102 billion FCFA.
Hear the president:

“…I have just given instructions for the launch of a three-year “Special Youth” plan worth 102 billion FCFA in total. This plan should facilitate and accelerate the economic integration of our youth. We should all take a keen interest in it. In so doing, I believe, you all will be demonstrating your ‘economic patriotism’…”

However, rather than please youths and give them hope for a brighter future, as intended, this promise has left them more confused and frustrated than they were before it was made. Many young Cameroonians who talked to The Median on 11 February said it was another rhetoric used by the President to bamboozle them. They said President Biya’s announcement was not only vague but also revolting to the extreme.


“What does the President mean by a three-year special youth plan? How can he convince us that a plan we know nothing about will facilitate our economic integration? Are we dunces to accept a thing that makes no meaning to us?

Is this not sheer political chicanery meant to strengthen his hold on power, especially at this time when there are hypocritical calls for him to stand again as presidential candidate and even call an anticipated election? Personally, I want to see what he means by “special youth plan” before I can believe him. But I would be pleasantly surprised if any fruitful outcome springs from that announcement,” Armstrong Berinyuy, an unemployed graduate of the University of Buea, said.

For her part, Endale Marie-Laure, a degree holder in physics who works part-time for a hairdressing saloon at Tsinga in Yaounde, said nothing entirely true comes out of the mouth of the President who made the promise.

“Did he not say the other time that 25 000 young school leavers would be recruited? How many graduates applied? And how many ended up being recruited? Were up to 15 000 youths employed despite the scores of thousands of applicants? Today, we hear him talk of an ambitious three-year youth plan that would cost 102 billion FCFA; call me a liar if anything worth a plan for the youth would effectively be put in place between now and 2019.”

This newspaper also met an adult politician who claimed to belong to what he called the progressive wing of the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (CPDM), but who asked not to be named. His were also not kind words for the Head of State. He told The Median:

“Every year, the President of the Republic who happens to be the chairman of my party creates an avenue for some privileged Cameroonians to earn undeserved money. This time around, it is 102 billion FCFA for a white elephant project that nobody can presently put his fingers on. Before you know, half of this money would disappear without a plan for the youth of this country being launched. It is then that you will see him start looking for people – true criminals or scapegoats – to send to Kondengui.”

Added he: “The President had better invested this money for a more feasible project that, for instance, would practically ensure the employment of young people both in the public and private sectors; why not even in the domain of agriculture which he also made reference to? There are experts and advisers around him who should properly school him on this. Mr. President should not wait to get it from the papers.”

All in all, President Biya’s 2016 address to the youth did not play the role of a tranquilizer in the minds of the people for whom it was destined. Rather, it left many jobless youths disappointed and more confused. Until the promised 102 billion special youth plan takes off the ground, nobody, not even adults, will take it seriously.