Hiring and firing strategy helps Biya to stay in power - New study

The two presidents that have governed Cameroon have frequently hired and fired ministers. More than 1400 ministers have been changed and their governance have also changed 44 times between 1960 and 2004.

This practice is common among dictators as it help strengthen their grip on power, says a new study. Ministers’ short stay in office leaves them little time to build their own political base, while the prospect of returning bolstered their loyalty.

The Dictator’s inner circle published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the UK examined Cameroon and 16 other countries in Africa, all marked by frequent changes of ministers. The study was conducted by Patrick Francois, Ilia Rainer and Francesco.

“Statically, we posit that more experienced ministers (i.e. insiders endowed with longer past experience in government and more political capital in general) are able to produce more value for a leader, but are also more apt at capturing a larger share of that value.

Dynamically, time spent inside the palace increases the capacity for ministers to stage coups. Insiders have the potential of becoming rivals and consequently developing their own power base. As a result, a leader will tend to terminate ministers if they become a threat to him and this increasingly arise over time, as they learn their way through the government organization.”