Cameroonians wake up today Saturday January 21st 2022 with the shocking and sudden death of Minister Dodo Gabriel, Cameroon’s minister of mines, Industries and technological development.
At 51, Minister Dodo was one of the youngest ministers in a country where the median age of government ministers is 75. his sudden death did not only shock his close collaborators but has rattled the nation. Yesterday at his ministerial building in Yaoundé, the minister received the Italian Ambassador to Cameroon in audience and he was well and sound. Its not readily clear what killed the minister but he was reportedly rushed to a hospital in Yaoundé last night after suffering from discomfort and died early this morning.
He becomes only the first full fledge sitting minister to die under Biya’s reign. His sudden dead meanwhile now crowns a long list of four senior government officials who have all died in office since 2021 and are yet to be replaced:Adoum Gargoum who died on the 8th March 2021, Alim Garga Hayatou on the 5th April 2021, and Clementine Ananga Messina on the 5th of August 2022!
But perhaps, none of the deaths will resonate more than that of minister Dodo who sits at the head of a prominent ministry. In his end of year speech to Cameroonians back in December 2022, President Paul Biya didn’t focus on any other ministry like he did with the ministry of mines, pointing to the mining industry as the country’s next big thing
The head of state applauded the strides made by the ministry and SONAMINES, listed heavy contracts which were signed and touted an even better 2023 in the country’s mining sector. Biya’s end of year speech was a pivot to the country’s mining sector and that meant minister Dodo was going to be at the very center of the country’s economic drive this 2023
His shock and sudden dead now means Biya has to urgently effect his replacement in what would likely be the much awaited cabinet reshuffle
