Former Budget Minister Roger Melingui remarries two years after the death of his first wife, sparking debate over age and power in high-profile unions.
YAOUNDÉ – Veteran Cameroonian lawmaker and President of the RDPC Parliamentary Group, Roger Melingui, has remarried at the age of 75, exchanging vows with 25-year-old Priscille Poné in a private weekend ceremony that has quickly become one of the most talked-about social events in the capital.
The wedding, held in Yaoundé, comes roughly two years after the July 2024 passing of Melingui’s first wife, Marie Nicole Tamba, a respected psychotherapist who died at 60 following a prolonged illness. For the octogenarian politician, the union marks a personal rebirth—but for many observers, the headline lies not in the timing, but in the numbers: the groom is exactly 50 years older than his new bride.
A Political Stalwart’s Second Act
Melingui, born in Yaoundé in January 1951, is no stranger to the public eye. A trained economist with postgraduate credentials from Sciences Po Paris and ESSEC Business School, he served as Cameroon’s Minister Delegate for the Budget from 1994 to 2004—a decade in which he helped steer the nation’s fiscal policy through periods of both adjustment and growth.
After leaving the executive branch, he transitioned to the legislature, winning a parliamentary seat in 2013 under the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement (RDPC). By March 2023, he had ascended to the presidency of the party’s parliamentary group, a role that places him at the heart of legislative strategy and government-party coordination.
His political base remains firmly rooted in the Mefou-et-Afamba division, where he is regarded as a native son and kingmaker.
From Grief to Celebration
The wedding arrives on the heels of a period of mourning. Melingui had publicly eulogized his late wife, Marie Nicole, in August 2024 at her burial in Esse, Centre Region, describing their marriage as a “great love” that spanned decades. Her death left a visible void in his personal life, and his decision to remarry has been met with mixed emotions.
While family insiders describe the new couple as genuinely affectionate, the five-decade age gap has ignited a firestorm on Cameroonian social media. Critics have questioned the optics of such a union between a septuagenarian statesman and a woman young enough to be his granddaughter, while defenders point to the couple’s private happiness and the long tradition of age-disparate marriages among political elites in the region.
A Private Ceremony, A Public Spectacle
Photographs from the event—showing a beaming Melingui in a formal tuxedo alongside Poné in an elegant white gown—have circulated widely on WhatsApp and Facebook, fueling both congratulatory messages and satirical commentary. Neither the couple nor their representatives have issued a public statement addressing the age difference.
For now, the “carnet rose” (wedding announcement) stands as a personal milestone for a man who has spent five decades in public service. But in a nation where generational divides are increasingly a topic of political and social discourse, the Melingui-Poné marriage has become far more than a private affair—it is a mirror held up to Cameroon’s evolving conversation about love, power, and the age of consent in the corridors of influence.
