Edgar Alain Mebe Ngoo

Political career

Mebe Ngo'o was born in Sangmélima. He was Economic Affairs Adviser to the Governor of East Province from 1985 to 1988 and Secretary-General of North Province from 1988 to 1991. Subsequently, he was Prefect of Ocean Department from 1991 to 1995, Prefect of Mefou and Afamba Department from 1995 to 1996, and Prefect of Mfoundi Department from 1996 to 1997.

On 7 December 1997, Mebe Ngo'o was appointed as Director of the Civil Cabinet of the Presidency; after seven years in that position, he was instead appointed as Delegate-General for National Security on 8 December 2004. As Delegate-General for National Security, Mebe Ngo'o was credited with cracking down on police abuses and reviving the "police of the police", a unit intended to investigate abuses, in 2005; he also publicly acknowledged corruption in the police force, including the use of torture and extortion.

After four and a half years as head of the national police, Biya moved Mebe Ngo'o to the post of Minister-Delegate at the Presidency for Defense on 30 June 2009. Mebe Ngo'o was retained in his post in the government named on 9 December 2011, in the wake of Biya's re-election for another term. That Biya chose to keep Mebe Ngo'o in his post was viewed as surprising by some, given that the latter had been the target of corruption allegations.

In May 2014, in the wake of the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping, "defense minister Edgard Allain Mebe Ngo'o met with Chad's minister of national defense, Benaindo Tatola, in Yaounde. Ngo'o said Chad had also deployed troops to work together with Cameroonian forces on the borders with Nigeria. He also said troops from the two countries will cross into Nigeria and fight Boko Haram in collaboration with Nigerian forces."

He was moved to the post of Minister of Transport on 2 October 2015.