Yaounde: As Cameroon braces for a high-stakes presidential election this October, the government has turned to an unlikely but familiar ally for calm amid uncertainty the Catholic Church.
In a rare gesture of public commendation, the Minister of State and Secretary-General at the Presidency, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, lauded the Church’s enduring role in peace-building. On August 13, under the directive of President Paul Biya, Ngoh welcomed a delegation from the National Episcopal Conference of Cameroon (NECC) to Unity Palace the symbolic and administrative heart of the Cameroonian state.
“The Catholic Church has long been a moral compass for our nation,” Ngoh told the bishops, according to a statement issued the same day. “At this sensitive time, your contribution is vital to ensuring a peaceful climate before, during, and after the elections.”
Seated across from government officials at the Etoudi Palace, Archbishop Andrew Fuanya Nkea of Bamenda president of NECC responded with measured clarity.
“We come not as political actors,” he said, “but as men of God, bearing the prayers, hopes, and fears of the Cameroonian people.”
In a country marred by long-standing political tensions, regional crises, and economic disparity, the Church has consistently chosen the pulpit of principle over partisanship. Archbishop Nkea reaffirmed this commitment, pointing to the NECC’s pastoral letters and public appeals for justice and reconciliation. These, he said, are the Church’s primary tools in its evangelizing mission a mission deeply entwined with civic peace.
Documents handed over to the Minister including a January 11 message on the country’s socio-economic challenges and a March 28 pastoral letter on the elections serve as both testimony and plea: that Cameroon must not trade democracy for disorder, nor unity for silence.
Yet while the Unity Palace hosted gestures of goodwill, Church leaders across the country have not held back their warnings.
Archbishop Samuel Kleda of Douala, in a pastoral letter released a day before the meeting, denounced what he called “anti-Gospel acts” corroding Cameroonian society. Corruption, inequality, governance failures, and what he described as a "nebulous management of oil" have all stirred public discontent, especially among youth facing unemployment and despair.
“Our country is shaken by multiple evils that afflict all social strata,” Kleda wrote. “The malaise runs deep. It grows in silence, in frustration, in empty plates, in broken roads, in flickering power.”
He listed systemic issues from poverty and illegal immigration to the security crisis in the north as urgent flashpoints demanding attention and transparency ahead of the vote.
Despite sharp critiques, the Church’s approach remains dialogical, not combative. Archbishop Nkea reiterated the Church’s willingness to expand forums for dialogue with state institutions.
“Our goal is not to oppose, but to accompany,” he said. “We want to multiply platforms for consultation, not only to denounce what’s broken, but to help build what must be restored together.”
As Cameroon inches closer to its presidential election, its government and clergy find themselves aligned, at least momentarily, on one front: the pursuit of peace.
In a nation navigating old wounds and new uncertainties, the Catholic Church stands not behind a pulpit or throne but beside the people, urging calm, calling for justice, and praying that this time, the ballot may bring hope, not harm.