Ayem Mauger Biography
In an article published on its website on November 25, 2022, the pan-African news magazine recounts the journey of the former opponent of the regime who became one of the Cameroonian president’s trusted men.
Jean-Claude Ayem Moger, the man who speaks in Paul Biya’s ear.
It is this discreet technical advisor to the presidency of the Republic of Cameroon that Jeune Afrique presents to its subscribers this November 25, 2022 on its website jeunesseafrique.com.
The newspaper tells the atypical story of the man who for 20 years has been dealing with the country’s major economic issues.
Son of a prefect, but a protesting student, the almost septuagenarian will join in France the National Manifesto for the establishment of democracy (Manidem), a movement launched by the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) in 1974.
Returning to work in the country, the young academic persisted on this path, even discreetly supporting the angry students at the beginning of the 1991 decade.
Jean-Marie Atangana Mebara, whom he would become closer to later, would take him with him wherever he went.
We find him at the former Ministry of Higher Education, then at the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic.
When his protector falls from grace and is imprisoned, Ayem is not worried.
“In 2008, while the former secretary general Mebara was caught up in the anti-corruption operation Épervier, his ex-protege was not affected by the explosion.
Better still, the influence of the prefect’s son grew within the walls of Etoudi, while Martin Belinga Eboutou – Bulu like him – took the reins of the civil cabinet in 2009.
“They quickly appreciated each other.
It is Martin Belinga Eboutou who will finish imposing it in the entourage close to the head of state,” continues our source,” we read in the Jeune Afrique article.
The Parisian newspaper learned from a close friend of Paul Biya’s economic advisor that it is thanks to his friendships that he remains in the bosom of the saints.
“Ayem is not someone from the inner circle, in the political sense of the term.
His friendships nevertheless allowed him to establish himself.
Without them, even if he is competent on his files, he would not have obtained the same influence,” quotes our colleague.
Here is the article published by Jeune Afrique
Cameroon: Jean-Claude Ayem and Paul Biya, the trust worth billions
From CAN projects to Camair-Co planes, the man who has established himself for two decades as a key figure within the presidency today pilots the most sensitive issues as technical advisor to the Head of State .
Portrait of an untouchable.
By Mathieu Olivier (Jeune Afrique)
Almost every lunchtime, the former university professor follows the same ritual. Jean-Claude Ayem leaves the office he occupies in the building of the general secretariat of the presidency, a stone’s throw from the Etoudi palace, on the hill of the same name.
After passing the security barriers of the presidential security department and the presidential guard, he takes the road to the Mont-Fébé hotel.
A few minutes later, after having walked the path leading to the establishment and its municipal golf course, he is seated at his lunch table, in the company of a close friend.
President Paul Biya’s technical advisor can sometimes come across illustrious active or retired state officials there, who have also retained their habits in this high place of Cameroonian politics.
Some greet him, but few allow themselves to interrupt him.
Jean-Claude Ayem likes to have peaceful lunches before heading back to Etoudi and diving back into the country’s major economic issues.
The ritual is immutable and the man is essential.
The president even “authorized” this almost septuagenarian to go beyond the official retirement age, currently set at 60 years old.
In the entourage of the Head of State, Jean-Claude Ayem is untouchable. Paul Biya has never had a taste for numbers. He doesn’t like spending hours on economic issues.
“For the president, everything is political. Economically, he has no problem delegating a lot,” confides a palace regular.
In office for two decades, first as project manager at the general secretariat of the presidency then as technical advisor to the Head of State, Jean-Claude Ayem has found his place.
Writer of short notes – often a single page – which delight Paul Biya, he manages the country’s economy, from infrastructure files to strategic orientations.
“Radical” student
When he was younger, did the economist imagine himself as the pillar of a forty-year-old presidential power?
Jean-Claude Ayem grew up within the Cameroonian high administration, where his father – who recently died – held the position of prefect.
In Bafia, the prefecture of the Central region, the municipal stadium was even named “Ayem” in honor of said father, a football fan, who apparently left good memories there.
The enclosure still bears this name today.
However, at the end of adolescence, on the path to adulthood, Jean-Claude Ayem has the desire to revolt.
With his bachelor’s degree, he left to study economics in France, in Strasbourg (East).
In addition to the courses that allowed him to obtain a doctorate in 1986, he discovered politics within the National Union of Kamerun Students (Unek).
At the start of Paul Biya’s reign, we are discussing the establishment of a multiparty system and how to end the Ahmadou Ahidjo era.
Benefiting from the protection of geographical distance, there is talk without fear of opposition and alternation of power.
In Strasbourg, Jean-Claude Ayem is one of the most active, alongside one of his comrades, the future law associate Adolphe Minkoa She.
Some people do not hesitate to consider him as a “radical”, according to an opponent of the time.
In France, Jean-Claude Ayem campaigned in particular within the National Manifesto for the establishment of democracy (Manidem), a movement launched by the Union of the Populations of Cameroon (UPC) in 1974.
Back in Cameroon, he continued his commitment in the same ranks, considered as the radical wing of the upécists.
Hired as a teacher at the Faculty of Economic Sciences in Yaoundé, the prefect’s son does not hesitate to politically mobilize his students.
In 1991, when the multiparty system had only just been established, he was one of the discreet supporters of the first student demonstrations in Cameroon.
The “Paris club”
An intellectual critical of the power in place, benefiting from political connections in an opposition considered radical, the economist is then monitored, like other “subversives”, by Paul Biya’s General Intelligence, who fill out files about him.
We dissect his writings, analyze his speeches, map his contacts. In the mid-1990s, the professor had not yet got used to it at Mont-Fébé.
On the other hand, he frequents almost daily, around 6 p.m., the bar-restaurant Le Challenge, located on Avenue Kennedy, in the center of the capital.
He is remaking, if not the world, at least Cameroon.
Several academics join him almost every evening. Adolphe Minkoa She of course, his companion from Strasbourg, but also Luc Sindjoun, future political advisor to Paul Biya, Georges Kobou, Emmanuel Douya, and even Mathieu Mebenga.
Nicknamed “Benson”, it was the latter who gave the troupe – which was soon called the “Paris club” – a completely different political color.
In the mid-1990s, Mathieu Mebenga was in fact the private secretary of a man who was moving up to Yaoundé: Jean-Marie Atangana Mebara.
When he was appointed Minister of Higher Education in 1997, the “club” followed him in his rise.
Like Luc Sindjoun, Jean-Claude Ayem joined the ministry, first as a research officer.
“Benson”, Sindjoun and Ayem then formed Atangana Mebara’s intellectual bodyguard.
They are his relays in the intellectual world of the university.
In 2002, when the minister was called to the presidency to occupy the post of secretary general, they also quickly followed the movement towards Etoudi.
Jean-Claude Ayem becomes responsible for economic affairs, and will never leave the presidential palace.
When Jean-Marie Atangana Mebara left to become Minister of Foreign Affairs in September 2006, Ayem remained in post.
From Mebara to Belinga
“Jean-Claude Ayem very quickly made himself indispensable,” remembers one of his friends. His spirit of synthesis fit well with the president’s way of working.
» In 2008, while the former secretary general Mebara was caught up in the anti-corruption operation Épervier, his ex-protege was not affected by the explosion.
Better still, the influence of the prefect’s son grew within the walls of Etoudi, while Martin Belinga Eboutou – Bulu like him – took the reins of the civil cabinet in 2009.
“They quickly appreciated each other.
It is Martin Belinga Eboutou who will finish imposing it in the close entourage of the head of state,” continues our source.
From 2005 to 2015, Jean-Claude Ayem can also count on the friendship at the palace of the former rector of the Faculty of Economic Sciences of Yaoundé, Séraphin Magloire Fouda – in charge of economic affairs at the general secretariat then deputy secretary general, he officiates today at the prime minister’s office.
He is even closer to Camille Ekindi, appointed general director of Crédit Foncier but formerly of the presidency, where he has maintained solid connections.
“Ayem is not someone from the inner circle, in the political sense of the term.
His friendships nevertheless allowed him to establish himself.
Without them, even if he is competent on his files, he would not have obtained the same influence,” confides a relative.
From all files
In recent years, Jean-Claude Ayem has almost appeared as a super-minister of the Economy and Finance, overshadowing personalities like Louis-Paul Motaze or Alamine Ousmane Mey, who sometimes find themselves reduced to applying – on instructions from the Head of State – directions that he has decided.
From the general secretariat, he secretly managed the files of the last African Cup of Nations (CAN) and Covid-19.
He was also called to the rescue to administer public companies as chairman of the board (the airline Camair-Co and the Nachtigal hydroelectric power station) or “simple” member (Sonamines or the operator Camtel).
Violating his usual discretion, his name was recently cited in the legal investigations surrounding the management of funds linked to the management of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Like many other ministers, he was interviewed by investigators without this necessarily suggesting future legal proceedings.
“We heard from him as a witness, as the main technical authority on the file from the general secretariat of the presidency,” confirms a source close to the investigation.
Should the economist fear coming out of the shadows? “As he is an important executive in the general secretariat, he necessarily suffers from the deleterious climate around Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh,” judges a close friend.
“It is a control tower in the sector of the economy and state participation. In the boards of directors, he is therefore seen as the eye of Paul Biya but also of Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh,” analyzes a close friend of Etoudi.
In office since 2011 as secretary general of the presidency, Ngoh Ngoh was careful not to dismiss him.
“Almighty as he is, he understood that it was necessary to deal with Ayem and that it was better to be his ally,” smiles a friend of the economist.
And added: “He is one of the men in whom Paul Biya has complete confidence. As long as this lasts, he will remain untouchable. »And Mont-Fébé will retain its most loyal customer.
SNH: Adolphe Moudiki loses his place to Jean Claude Ayem Mauger?
Jean Claude Ayem Mauger is Advisor for Economic Affairs at the Presidency of the Republic.
The National Hydrocarbons Company (SNH) would have terminated this Wednesday, July 24, 2024, the magister of Adolphe Moudiki.
After 31 years of reign at the general management of this structure, the 86-year-old former magistrate would have been thanked during an extraordinary session of the board of directors chaired by the PCA, Ferdinand Ngoh Ngoh, in his services to General Secretariat of the Presidency.
According to information circulating since the end of the work, information which has not yet been made official, the new man at the head of the SNH would be Jean Claude Ayem Mauger (photo).
Jean Claude Ayem Mauger is Advisor for Economic Affairs at the Presidency of the Republic.
However, he was expected to join the reconfigured National Investment Company (SNI), but it is at the SNH that he would therefore have been called upon to make his mark, if this information proves to be verified.
