New Year’s wishes to the Head of State : Niat Njifenji is ill and absent for the second consecutive time!

The traditional season of New Year’s greetings opened in Cameroon on Friday 10 January. Members of the diplomatic corps accredited to Cameroon were expected to say “Happy New Year Mr President“, followed by the National constituent bodies.

While the first part of the ceremony took place between 1.45pm and 3.50pm, the second, reserved for large national bodies, took place between 4pm and 4.45pm in the Banquet Hall of the Unity Palace, and involved 35 delegations made up of members of government, members of parliament, directors-general, senior officials from the armed forces and security services, and members of the church.

During the ceremony, the Senate Bureau initiated proceedings, but significantly the President of the Senate was absent. As per protocol, the Senate Bureau should have been led by the President of the Senate, just as the Bureau of the National Assembly was led by it’s president, and the Government by the Prime Minister, Head of Government.

The President of the Senate, second highest ranking official was notably absent from the ceremony as he is currently hospitalized in a clinic in Switzerland. This marks the second consecutive time Marcel Niat Njifenji has missed the solemn ceremony for presenting New Year’s wishes to the Head of State at the Unity Palace. His last attendance at such an event was in 2023 and since then, the Speaker of the Upper House of Parliament has frequently undergone medical evacuations abroad.