Time & Perspective Quote by Paul Biya

Biya’s language is the soft-gloved rhetoric of authority: it asks for trust without offering terms. “I want to believe” sounds humble, even vulnerable, but it’s a clever move for a head of state. The burden of proof shifts away from the speaker and onto unnamed appointees whose “total commitment” is asserted as a moral expectation rather than demonstrated performance. The line doesn’t promise accountability; it blesses loyalty.

The phrase “those who have been appointed” is doing quiet political work. Appointments imply hierarchy and gatekeeping: power flows from the top, competence is framed as something bestowed, and dissent becomes easy to rebrand as disloyalty to a “mission.” By focusing on “skills and determination” instead of specific benchmarks, the quote constructs governance as willpower and sacrifice, not institutional checks, transparent goals, or measurable outcomes.

“I urge you to lend them your support” widens the net. Citizens aren’t asked to evaluate policy; they’re asked to join a team. Support becomes a civic duty, and skepticism risks being cast as sabotage of the collective project. The closing promise - “that bright future worthy of our country” - is classic patriotic futurism: a vague, emotionally satisfying destination that can justify almost any route taken to reach it.

In the context of Biya’s long tenure in Cameroon, the subtext reads as consolidation: reaffirm the legitimacy of the chosen, recruit the public into affirmation, and wrap continuity in the language of national destiny. The quote works because it flatters its audience while quietly disciplining it.