By Doh James Sonkey
The Minister of State, Minister of Higher Education and Chancellor of Academic Orders, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo has told authors and contributors of the Scientific Collection on the Communal Liberalism of Paul Biya to be proud of their production. The Minister of State was speaking as personal representative of the President of the Republic, H.E. Paul Biya during the opening of a national colloquium on the theme “communal liberalism of Paul Biya; a political thought for today and the future of Cameroon’’, last July 30, 2025 at the International Relations Institute of Cameroon, IRIC in Yaoundé.
The ceremony that took place at Amphi500 of the Institute equally served as a platform for the dedication of a collective scientific production by the authors of the Volume I and Volume II of the books, Prof Andre Akam Akam of the University of Yaounde II, Soa and Prof Simeon Patrice Kouam of the University of Ngaoundere.
Congratulating the authors and contributors of the scientific collection, Minister Fame Ndongo said President Paul Biya, after studying in the best University in France, came back and joined the administration at the top level as Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency, cumulating as Secretary General of the Presidency of the Republic.
The first volume talks of an idea of the State and National Unity of President Biya and the second volume illustrates his vision and development strategies.
Officially opening the national colloquium, Minister of State, Prof Jacques Fame Ndongo described President Paul Biya as a phenomenon whose literally works merit re-reading by the university community.
One of the authors, Prof Andre Akam Akam told reporters that ‘‘through a collective work, we wanted to study his thought, explore it, and evaluate the action that resulted from it, with a scientific attitude, with integrity, objectivity, and neutrality. It is the university community in general and the community of the authors of this work that has come together to pay homage to President Paul Biya for his constant concern shown to us. Why is that? Because there is a time for everything. The work has been published, it has been taught and studied elsewhere.’’
He argued that ‘‘there is no specific time for the university to think. The university thinks at all times. The first volume is devoted to the idea of the state and national unity. It is about showing that the President of the Republic has methodically undertaken to build a state of law, a democratic state and a decentralised state, but also a strong and resonant state in the consensus of nations. He even suggests that national unity must be surpassed to reach national integration. The second volume is devoted, as you can see, to his vision of man and development. The philosophy of the present is a humanist philosophy. And the President said, we must build buildings, infrastructures. But what matters first is to build a new man, who is responsible and who is individually in charge of the destiny of this country. And he articulated to this a vision of development.’’