Brenda Biya, the president’s daughter, wants to politicize her coming out

She revealed her homosexuality 10 days ago. The daughter of Cameroonian President Paul Biya spoke to the press on Tuesday. She says she has suffered hostile reactions, but hopes that her gesture will change the law in her native country.

Up to five years in prison and a fine, this is what same-sex couples risk in Cameroon. It is therefore quite symbolic when a coming out comes from the own daughter of the head of state, the immovable Paul Biya, 91 years old, former seminarian, in power for more than four decades.I’m crazy about you and I want everyone to know it“, this is the message that Brenda Biya posted on social networks. A message accompanied by a photo, where we see her kissing her partner, a Brazilian model. Ten days after this outburst, she confided in the newspaper on Tuesday July 9 The ParisianShe, who has lived in Switzerland since adolescence, says that her family learned of her homosexuality through this publication on social networks.My parents called me and asked me to delete it“, she says. “But I had already taken the plunge. Since then, it’s been radio silence.“.

The Cameroonian presidency has not spoken. The subject is still largely taboo within the political class, as well as Cameroonian society. Only an anonymous government source mentioned this coming out to our colleagues at RFI. Brenda Biya lives in Switzerland, “This concerns the private life of an adult residing outside the country“, argues this source, “and this does not in any way commit Cameroon or the Head of State“. It is therefore a double argument that is brandished, that of private life and outside Cameroon. However, Paul Biya’s daughter wants to politicize her gesture. She says she hopes that this speech will free other people in Cameroon. And even that it will allow the law to be changed.”At least remove the prison sentence” faced by homosexual couples,” she said, while acknowledging that the fight will be difficult.

Cameroon is due to vote in 2025. For now, no one knows whether Paul Biya will seek an eighth term. He is currently the world’s longest-serving elected leader. Re-elections have been contested by NGOs, Western governments and opponents, some of whom have been imprisoned. His supporters are highlighting the “stability“and security, at a time when the country is threatened by jihadists in the North and by a rebellion of the English-speaking populations in the West.

But if the nonagenarian president decided to hand over, power would return to his loyalists. This would involve the secretary general of the presidency, already very influential, or the powerful Minister of Finance, but also Paul Biya’s son, Franck Biya, increasingly present on the ground, who is working on his popularity. A mystery of family trees, the son could therefore ensure the continuity of the regime, after his father, while his daughter tries to challenge the established order.