The politician makes the announcement following his joining the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon, a party boycotting the upcoming municipal and legislative elections.
Joseph Espoir Biyong will not be a candidate in the municipal election scheduled for 2026. The current sixth deputy mayor of the Douala 5th district municipality made the announcement on March 11, 2026, in one of his many social media posts. Wanting to be remembered as a “man of integrity, fair, sincere, and honest,” he says he is ready to lose everything rather than give up the truth; he wants to be loved, adored, and celebrated, instead of being feared.
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Declaring that he “never wished to remain mayor,” he thus renounces the privileges associated with his rank at the end of this mandate, which is lasting longer than expected. According to him, the greatness of a man is not defined by his bank account, many investments, land, wives, and children. But by his ability to transcend time and be celebrated even after his death. Having chosen to belong to this category of great men, he believes that other Cameroonians deserve to benefit from the privilege of being a municipal councilor or mayor.
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Unsurprisingly, his statement aligns with the position of the political party he has just joined, the Front for the National Salvation of Cameroon. The president of the said party, former minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary, decided that his political formation will not participate in the 2026 legislative and municipal elections as a sign of resistance. Complying with his leader’s requirement, the current deputy mayor accepts the immediate consequence of his activism.
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