By BNE
Famous Cameroonian international artist, Charlotte Dipanda, has been on the spotlight over the past few days, not for releasing one of her usual hits which often gets Cameroonians as well as her fans across the globe cheering her, but for delving into politics, and making certain pronouncements considered taboo to some, but news-worthy and interesting to others, depending on where one falls on the divide. It has to do with the leadership of Cameroon, a topic that has remained at the centre of much discussion over the past few months.
Being a guest of the journalist of Cameroonian /Ivorian origin, Ekia Badou, on the television Voice of America, last May 22, the young and talented Cameroonian singer, Charlotte Dipanda in the video which has widely circulated online, clearly voices out her opinion that, Cameroon’s Head of State, President Paul Biya should handover power, after 38 years at the helm of the nation.
According to Charlotte Dipanda, Cameroon cannot develop under the Biya regime, as she bluntly maintains that Biya’s reign has nothing more to contribute to the development of Cameroon. The singer opines that Paul Biya has to leave power to a younger generation who can lead Cameroonians to development.
President Biya, now 87, is in his second year in his latest seven-year mandate obtained from the 2018 presidential polls. Biya has been a topic of debate within Cameroonian circles both home and abroad for a while now, with some already testifying the blowing of an ongoing but invisible wind of change across the nation, whose English part (North West and South West Regions) has been plunged into a bloody conflict since 2016.
Charlotte Dipanda joins the likes of fellow artist Longue Longue, to voice out their take on the country’s leadership headed by Biya, which some hold does not have much strides to boast of after nearly four decades. Equally, another Cameroonian international Artist, Richard Bona on Friday revealed he is working on a song that will not be pleasant for Biya loyalists. According to him, 38 years in power is more than enough for one man.