Issa Tchiroma Bakary (born 10 September 1946 or ) is a Cameroonian politician. A former railway engineer, he served as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training from 2019 to 2025. He previously served under President Paul Biya as the Minister of Communication from 2009 to 2019 and Minister of Transport from 1992 to 1996.
Born in Garoua, Tchiroma went to France to do technical training in transport and materials. After completing his training, Tchiroma returned to Cameroon and worked as a materials and construction engineer at Regifercam (the National Railway Corporation) in Douala. In 1984, following a failed coup that year, Tchiroma was arrested by the Cameroonian government due to his alleged involvement even though Tchiroma wasn't directly involved in the coup.
In 1990, Tchiroma was released and two years later in 1992, he participated in the first ever multi-party elections held that year and was elected to the National Assembly as a member of the UNDP. Later that year, the UNDP joined the government as the ruling party, the Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (CPDM), lost its majority. Tchiroma was one of the few UNDP members to be a part of the government was appointed Minister of Transport by President Paul Biya despite some backlash from some members of Biya's party. Tchiroma served in this role until 1996.
In 2007, Tchiroma left the UNDP and formed the Front for the National Salvation (FNSC) and became its president. Two years later in 2009, he was appointed Minister of Communication in the cabinet of Prime Minister Philémon Yang. Tchiroma served in this role until 2019 where he was appointed the Minister of Employment and Vocational Training, a role Tchiroma served until in June 2025 where he unexpectedly broke ties with President Biya and left the government. He resigned from his post in the government and Tchiroma and his party joined the opposition and where he announced his candidacy and took part in the 2025 presidential election. Biya won by a large margin and Tchiroma thereafter fled the country, claiming for fear for his safety.
Personal life Tchiroma studied in France and became a materials and construction engineer. Working in Douala, Tchiroma was a Research Officer at the Cameroon Railways Camrail (Regie des Chemins de Fer, Regifercam), the state railway company of Cameroon, until April 1984. When soldiers attempted to overthrow President Paul Biya in a coup attempt on 6 April 1984, sparking days of fighting in Yaoundé, Tchiroma was in Douala. According to Tchiroma, he was uninvolved in the coup attempt and the violence was as mysterious to him as it was to others at the time; he said that he observed the gloomy atmosphere that prevailed in the city and noted the general lack of reliable information about what was occurring in Yaoundé.Xavier Messè, "Issa Tchiroma Bakary : Je n'ai pas de rancune" , Mutations, 6 April 2009 .
The coup was foiled by loyalist troops, and the government arrested the supposed perpetrators. Tchiroma, being from the North, one of the regions that are purported to be a stronghold of the supposed coup plotters, was amongst the ones under suspicion. After several searches and damages to his home, he was arrested on April 16, 1984. Despite no charges being brought against him, Tchiroma was imprisoned first at Kondengui prison, then transferred to Yoko prison, where he endured lengthy detention under harsh conditions denounced by Amnesty International. During his years in detention, Tchiroma, a French-speaking Cameroonian, taught himself English. After more than six years, he was released in 1990.
Political career
Following Tchiroma's release, he participated in a protest in Garoua against the actions of those who, in his view, were impeding the implementation of the law providing amnesty to individuals implicated in the 1984 coup attempt. He was then arrested and jailed again. According to Tchiroma, his arrest provoked anger among northerners, and he credited Edgar Alain Mebe Ngo'o, the Secretary-General of North Province, with securing his release in order to defuse the situation.
Tchiroma was Secretary-General of the National Union for Democracy and Progress (UNDP), an opposition party, in the early 1990s.Omar Diop, Partis politiques et processus de transition démocratique en Afrique noire (2006), page 118 . In the March 1992 parliamentary election, he was elected to the National Assembly as a UNDP candidate in the Bénoué constituency of North Province.List of deputies elected in 1992, National Assembly website . Later in the year, after Biya controversially won the October 1992 presidential election, Tchiroma was appointed to the government as Minister of Transport by Biya on 27 November 1992, along with another UNDP leader, Hamadou Moustapha. He and Moustapha accepted their appointments without the approval of UNDP President Maigari Bello Bouba; the appointments were viewed by some as a way of dividing and weakening the opposition by coopting certain opposition figures.Joseph Takougang, "Cameroon: Biya and Incremental Reform", in Political Reform in Francophone Africa (1997), ed. John Frank Clark and David E. Gardinier, pages 171–172.Milton H. Krieger and Joseph Takougang, African State and Society in the 1990s: Cameroon's Political Crossroads (2000), Westview Press, pages 143–145.Joseph Takougang, "The Nature of Politics in Cameroon", The Leadership Challenge in Africa: Cameroon Under Paul Biya, (2004), ed. John Mukum Mbaku and Joseph Takougang, page 83.
After Tchiroma and Moustapha were retained in their posts as part of the government named in July 1994, Bello Bouba said on 23 July 1994 that their continued inclusion in the government would mean the end of their membership in the UNDP."Northern Cameroon: Attacks on Freedom of Expression by Governmental and Traditional Authorities" , Article 19, July 1995. Tchiroma and Moustapha challenged their removal from the party, but they were expelled by the UNDP Central Committee in January 1995.African State and Society in the 1990s, page 199. Following their expulsion, Tchiroma and Moustapha established their own "authentic" faction of the UNDP, rejecting Bello Bouba's leadership. That faction then became the (NADP), a new party featuring a slight alteration of the UNDP's name, and it was legally recognized on 31 August 1995.List of political parties in Cameroon . Despite their creation of a new party, Moustapha and Tchiroma still legally contested Bello Bouba's leadership of the UNDP.
In 1996, while serving as Minister of Transport, Tchiroma urged companies in the United States to invest in Cameroon, saying that the country could not develop without foreign investment."African seek development partners \ don't want charity, officials say. About 60 U.S. companies interested in aviation, maritime projects", Akron Beacon Journal, 11 September 1996, page D7. He departed the governmentAchille Chountsa, "Issa Tchiroma : Un rebond à la Communication", Le Jour, 1 July 2009 . on 19 September 1996, when Joseph Tsanga Abanda was appointed to replace him as Minister of Transport."Gouvernement du 19 September 1996" , Cameroon government website .
Return to the UNDP and creation of the FSNC Tchiroma ultimately left the ANDP and rejoined the UNDP at a January 2002 party congress in Maroua. Following the June 2002 parliamentary election, Tchiroma and four other notable northern politicians released a statement in July, in which they alleged electoral fraud and announced the formation of a "resistance front". They warned that the governing Cameroon People's Democratic Movement (RDPC) was moving the country back to single-party rule and called on politicians "to transcend any divergence, selfishness and personal ambition in order to create a movement capable of saving Cameroon from collapse"."Five former Cameroonian ministers allege vote rigging", Panapress, 15 July 2002. He also joined other northern politicians in signing a September 2002 memo decrying the government's alleged marginalization and neglect of the north and urging that more attention be paid to addressing the north's problems."Northerners in Cameroon deny seeking secession", Panapress, 15 September 2003.
At the time of the October 2004 presidential election, Tchiroma was part of the opposition coalition and denounced President Biya, urging the people to vote him out.Kini Nsom, "Tchiroma Supports Constitutional Amendment", The Post (Cameroon), 22 February 2008. He took that stance even though Bello Bouba and the UNDP leadership chose to support Biya's candidacy. Tchiroma headed a panel that was tasked with choosing a joint opposition candidate for the election, which would have improved the opposition's chances of defeating Biya. The panel chose Adamou Ndam Njoya, the President of the Cameroon Democratic Union (UDC), as the joint opposition candidate; however, John Fru Ndi, the Chairman of the Social Democratic Front (SDF), reacted angrily to the decision, saying that the selection process was improper and that he would stand as a candidate despite the panel's decision. Tchiroma in turn criticized Fru Ndi: "The rules to which all of us willingly subscribed, including him, were respected. If he were the democrat he claims to be, he should simply bow down to the will of the majority." With Ndam Njoya and Fru Ndi both standing and thereby splitting the opposition vote, a victory for Biya was considered to be almost certain.Tansa Musa, "Cameroon opposition fails to see eye to eye", Reuters (IOL), 18 September 2004.
Tchiroma later left the UNDP again and founded a new party, the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon (FSNC), which was officially registered in January 2007. At the time, he said that the FSNC "intends to contribute to the advent of a free society and promote the democratisation process in Cameroon"."Cameroon gets 200th political party", African Press Agency, 19 January 2007.
At a press conference on 20 February 2008, he announced his party's support for constitutional amendments favored by the government, including the elimination of presidential term limits. Although other opposition leaders viewed the amendments as a transparent effort to allow Paul Biya to remain in power, Tchiroma argued that the amendments should be considered on their own merits. He particularly stressed his support for extending the 45-day period for organizing a new presidential election following a vacancy in the office,Aimé-Francis Amougou, "Constitution : Issa Tchiroma Bakary pour la modification" , Cameroon Tribune, 21 February 2008 . arguing that it was "almost impossible" to do so within that length of time. He also argued that removing the presidential term limits would promote a climate of peace and stability by avoiding the uncertainty associated with a presidential succession, and he said that would in turn encourage foreign investment in Cameroon. On the same occasion, Tchiroma criticized other opposition leaders, saying that they were power-hungry and would be willing to start a civil war, while also denying that he had been bribed into supporting the amendments; according to Tchiroma, he considered the arguments of both sides, consulted constitutional experts, and then concluded that the ruling party's position was correct.
In an interview published by the Cameroon Tribune on 29 June 2009, Tchiroma defended President Biya in the midst of media claims about his wealth and argued that Biya was working to "eradicate corruption". He also alleged that foreign agents were working to destabilize Cameroon.Martin A. Nkemngu, "Issa Tchiroma Bakary – «President Biya is Out to Eradicate Corruption»", Cameroon Tribune, 29 June 2009.
Minister of Communication