IRES Webinar – Governance & State Reform: Understanding the Key Issues of Cameroon’s 2025 Presidential Elections

As Cameroon prepares for the October 12, 2025 presidential election, the Rhumsiki Institute for Strategic Studies (IRES) is launching a series of three webinars on governance and institutional reforms. These events aim to shed light on the national debate by providing citizens, voters, and decision-makers with rigorous, non-partisan information.

The first webinar, scheduled for Saturday, August 30, 2025 (2:00 – 4:00 PM GMT+1, online via Zoom), will adopt a technical and neutral approach. Independent experts will analyze the main institutional reform options for Cameroon, without political bias or partisan considerations.

Key Themes

• State Architecture: centralization, decentralization, federalism

• Electoral Reforms: transparency, voting systems, independence of the electoral body

• Political Alternation & Stability: term limits, peaceful transitions

• Institutional Strengthening & Anti-Corruption: independent judiciary, stronger Parliament, effective checks and balances

Speakers

The speakers at this first webinar are independent experts who have no affiliation with any political party involved in the presidential election race. They are:

• Sulle Dicko Buba

  A civil society activist and expert in monitoring and evaluation, he is the founder and national director of ScholarShop Cameroon, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting social entrepreneurship among young people.

• Venant Bouas

  As a journalist, he has, among other things, extensive experience in the implementation of state reform strategies in Africa and the management of systemic disruptions. As coordinator of the African Observatory of Canada think tank, he has followed almost all the changes in Africa since 2010.

• Mefire Youssouf

  Civil society militant and one of the former leaders of the University of Yaoundé parliament and the National Coordination of Cameroonian Students in 1991.

• Franck Essi

  Franck Essi is a senior leadership and management consultant with over ten years of experience in consulting, facilitation, and institutional capacity building. He has worked with international organizations such as GIZ, the African Union, and AUDA-NEPAD in more than fifteen countries in Africa and Europe. Author of several publications, he also contributes to forward-looking analyses on governance and development in Africa.

• Halidou Demba

  Historian and member of civil society with over 25 years of experience in development, humanitarian activities, and civic engagement.

Moderator

The session will be moderated by Prof. Sehou (IRES), ensuring balanced and objective discussions.

Target Audience

These webinars are primarily aimed at all Cameroonians in their great diversity, i.e. students, researchers, members of civil society, journalists, political actors, citizens in Cameroon and in the diaspora: anyone interested in institutional issues and governance is invited to participate.

Registration

Participation is free and open to all.

By providing impartial and fact-based analysis, this webinar aims to offer citizens the necessary tools to understand before making their choice in the 2025 elections.