Can young Macron be the Liberator that Cameroonians are waiting for?

Emmanuel Macron who won the French Presidency yesterday in a decisive victory over the far-right National Leader, Marine Le Pen is said to be France’s youngest president. Many Cameroonians are now raising the question as to whether his age and dispensations within the context of modern politics and democracy will spark a win of change in Cameroon.

Macron’s election into office is coming at the time when Cameroon has been plagued within the past 5 months by social unrests; the teachers/lawyers led protest that led to civil disobedience within the Anglophone community, the many debates that arose from the protest including calls for federalism, cessation, inclusion etc. from various fractional bodies and individuals affected by the crisis, and the failure of the government to effectively ensure schools reopening within the Anglophone region. Macron is also making his debut when the bulk of Cameroon ministers are ageing people while the young are almost completely left out of the Cameroon political scene.

Many Cameroonians as they are, seem to be clutching at anything they believe can bring change in the struggle. Many say Macron age could be a determining factor.

“Macron is barely 39 years and I think he will reason differently. He may be more interested in reuniting a divided and fractured France and boosting with dignity his country’s productivity than letting his country to continue feeding from the tables of its former colonies” says an observer. “Also, Macron is very young and may find difficulties dealing with an old and stereotype government like that of Cameroon” he adds with confidence.

Critics differ; they say that Macron may be young and full of new ideas but France as it has always been, has a system in place which is a legacy left for posterity; a system that every President has to follow in order to milk its former colonies for survival.

Nevertheless the election of Emmanuel Le Pen was hailed by many cramping the wave of populism after the controversial Trump win in the US elections and the Brexit outcome.