Fabricated decree fuels claims that Cameroon’s Paul Biya appointed his son as vice president

“Cameroon’s 93-year-old President Paul Biya has appointed his own son, Franck Emmanuel Biya, as Vice President of the Republic and Head of the Armed Forces, a move that places him at the centre of the country's political and military leadership,” reads a Facebook post published on April 6, 2026. 

“According to reports, the appointment was announced in an official decree dated April 4, 2026,” it adds.

The post features photos of Biya and his son, along with the purported decree ratifying the appointment. 

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Screenshot of the false post, taken on April 14, 2026

Similar claims were shared elsewhere on X and in an article by NTV Kenya, which has since been deleted. 

Other posts circulated on Facebook, Instagram and Threads, but did not include the alleged decree.

Biya, 93, has led Cameroon since 1982 and was re-elected for an eighth term in October 2025, despite deadly protests. He is currently the world’s oldest head of state (archived here). 

Cameroon has not had a deputy president since 1972. However, parliament approved the reintroduction of the position on April 4, 2026 (archived here). 

The bill, which Biya signed into law on April 15, states that the vice president will automatically assume the presidency in the event of his death, resignation, or incapacity (archived here).

However, there is no evidence to support claims that Biya appointed his son as vice president of Cameroon, and the purported regulation circulating online is fabricated.

“Falsehood”

The document is suspicious for several reasons. Firstly, it is dated Sunday, April 4, 2026, which was, in fact, a Saturday.

AFP Fact Check also compared the document with an official one published less than a week before on a government website and found discrepancies in the fonts (archived here).

Furthermore, previous decrees include a watermark with the URL of the official presidency website “www.prc.cm”, which is missing from the document circulating online.

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Screenshot of the fake decree (left) compared with a real document taken from the Cameroon presidency website

AFP Fact Check searched the website and did not find any decree from April 4 confirming the appointment of Biya’s son. 

Vivian Nain Kuma of the Cameroonian consulate in Nairobi, Kenya, where the fake document circulated widely, sent a statement to the media on April 7, 2026, criticising several Kenyan media outlets, including Kenya’s state broadcaster KBC, for spreading what she described as “falsehood and unfriendly reporting about Cameroon”.

“I want to state that the position of vice president has been created, but so far nobody has been appointed,” she wrote, calling on the “media houses to apologise and correct their mistake forthwith”.

Contacted by AFP Fact Check, Kuma authenticated the statement on April 8 and reiterated that “to date, no appointment has been made”.

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Statement from the Cameroonian consulate in Nairobi on April 7, 2026, authenticated by AFP

We also contacted Cameroon’s communications ministry, which has yet to respond.

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Franck Biya has a following in Cameroon and is tipped, by some, to take over from his father as the country’s leader (AFP / LUDOVIC MARIN)

However, the rumours are not entirely unfounded. There has been ongoing speculation that Franck Biya could eventually succeed his father (archived here and here). 

A businessman who has maintained a relatively low political profile, Biya’s son already has a discreet following among supporters known as “Franckists”.

Other names tipped for the position include Finance Minister Louis-Paul Motaze and the presidency's chief of staff, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh (archived here).

For now, in the absence of a vice presidential appointment, Cameroon’s constitution provides that any vacancy in the presidency will be filled on an interim basis by the president of the Senate, currently held by Aboubakary Abdoulaye (archived here).

AFP Fact Check originally debunked the claims in French.