VZCZCXRO2792
RR RUEHDU RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUEHYD #1036/01 2290718
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 170718Z AUG 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY YAOUNDE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8072
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YAOUNDE 001036 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR AF/C 
LONDON AND PARIS FOR AFRICA ACTIONS OFFICERS 
EUCOM FOR J5-A AND POLAD YATES 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/16/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KCOR EAID CM
SUBJECT: CAMEROON: "BIYA WILL SOON MAKE DECISIVE CHANGES TO 
GOVERNMENT" SAYS SENIOR GOVERNMENT/PARTY OFFICIAL 
 
REF: A. YAOUNDE 1012 (NOTAL) 
     ¶B. YAOUNDE 865 
     ¶C. YAOUNDE 37 
 
Classified By: Acting Pol/Econ Chief Tad Brown for reasons 1.4 b and d. 
 
¶1.  (C)  Summary.  Flush with an overwhelming parliamentary 
majority, President Biya will move quickly and decisively to 
prove he is serious about rooting out corruption and 
improving governance, predicted Gregoire Owona in an August 
13 lunch with Charge and Poloff.  Owona, a senior official at 
the Presidency and in the ruling party, said the coming 
Parliamentary session will focus on the implementation of the 
new independent elections agency and anti-corruption 
regulations, including the assets declaration provision of 
the Constitution.  Owona cautioned that Biya must moderate 
his reforms because Cameroon is still "fragile," and opined 
that "Cameroon is heavy and slow, but it advances."  End 
summary. 
 
¶2.  (U)  Charge hosted Gregoire Owona, who serves 
simultaneously as the Assistant Secretary General in the 
ruling Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM) and as 
the Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of 
relations with Parliament, for an August 13 lunch discussion 
focusing on the July 22 Parliamentary elections, the coming 
session of the National Assembly (Parliament), and President 
Biya's agenda for Cameroon. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Biya Will Soon Act Decisively 
on Anti-Corruption and Governance 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C)  Owona asserted that Biya is genuine in his desire to 
root out corruption and improve governance in Cameroon.  Biya 
will be emboldened by the CPDM's strong showing in the July 
22 Parliamentary and municipal elections, said Owona, to 
remove senior corrupt officials from his own government and 
restructure a new cabinet focused on improving governance. 
According to Owona, Biya is frustrated with his government's 
poor performance and is determined to choose a cabinet that 
will improve governance on all fronts, from road building to 
health.  Owona would not identify the senior officials likely 
to be removed, but speculated that the next cabinet would be 
smaller than the current and recent iterations. 
 
¶4.  (C)  When asked about Biya's apparent hesitancy to act 
more swiftly and boldly to reform the government, Owona 
cautioned that Cameroon is still a "fragile" country and that 
any efforts at reform carry "risks."  Though he was not 
specific, Owona conveyed his sense that Cameroon is still 
susceptible to civil and ethnic violence, perhaps even worse 
than the civil disturbances that paralyzed the country in the 
early 1990s. 
 
---------------------------------- 
Priorities for the Next Parliament 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C)  Owona admitted problems with the conduct of the July 
22 elections, but chalked them up to overzealous party 
officials on the local level acting independently, and he 
concluded that the elections reflected the will of the 
people.  The recently elected Parliament (short the 17 seats 
to be decided in re-run elections) will open on August 21 to 
elect the "Bureau" (leadership offices), including the 
Assembly President, who would serve as interim Head of State 
in case of a vacancy in the Presidency under the current 
constitution. 
 
¶6.  (C)  Owona said that Parliament will focus immediately on 
creating the implementing legislation needed for the new 
elections agency Elections Cameroon (ELECAM, ref c), the 
legal framework for anti-corruption efforts (especially the 
provisions on asset declaration by government officials), and 
economic reform to protect investors.  Owona acknowledged 
that constitutional reform would be addressed in the coming 
Parliament but insisted the movement was driven by the 
imperative to improve the provisions for presidential 
succession (lengthening the current period before elections 
beyond the current, unworkable 40 days, for example) rather 
than the extension of Biya's mandate.  In addition, Owona 
expressed certainty that the new Senate would be established 
before 2011 in keeping with Biya's pledge in his speech 
before the 2006 CPDM Party Congress. 
 
 
YAOUNDE 00001036  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.  (C)  Owona welcomed the presence of opposition 
politicians in Parliament, saying they would strengthen the 
quality of the debate.  In particular, Owona said he expects 
John Ekindi, a former collaborator of Owona's in the CPDM in 
Douala and the first and sole representative of the small 
Progressive Movement party, to be an outspoken and dynamic 
player in the coming session. 
 
---------------------------- 
A Glimpse of Biya's Work Day 
---------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (C)  Owona offered an insider's glimpse into President 
Biya's day, claiming that Biya is at his desk every day from 
eight until five, reading and making personal decisions on an 
extensive array of government business.  According to Owona, 
Biya receives separate daily briefings from Secretary General 
of the Presidency Laurent Esso, Head of the Civil Cabinet 
Jean Baptiste Beleoken, and a military aide, most likely 
Colonel Thomas Amougou, the acting incumbent of the 
President's Special Command Post (Chef d'Etat Major 
Particulier du Chef d'Etat) since the death of General Blaise 
Benae Mpecke in January.  Prime Minister Inoni has a 
regularly scheduled meeting with Biya once a week, on 
Fridays.  Biya receives daily, printed press briefings on 
local and international news. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
Comment: C'est Lourde, C'est Lente, Mais Ca Advance 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶9.  (C)  Owona's predictions are congruent with what we have 
been hearing from other sources (refs a and b), giving us 
reason to be guardedly hopeful that Biya will follow through 
soon on his repeated pledges to remove and arrest the most 
egregious corruption kingpins in his government.  We take 
Owona's cautionary note about Cameroon's fragility seriously, 
at least inasmuch as fears of instability seem paramount in 
Biya's calculations and glacial pace of action.  As the 
conversation wrapped up, Owona offered a reminder that 
Cameroon often functions on its own timeline, saying: it's 
heavy, it's slow, but it is moving forward.  End comment. 
NELSON