When the Electoral Commission (ELECAM) unveiled its much-anticipated list of approved candidates for Cameroon’s 12 October presidential election, the headlines were dominated by the usual political heavyweights. Thirteen names made the cut; seventy others were struck off. Among those rejected was a little-known but suddenly trending contender: Léopold BESSIPING.
In the days that followed, his name ricocheted across Cameroonian social media. Not because of a grand political manifesto or celebrity endorsements, but for an almost disarmingly candid declaration: when asked about the source of the 30 million CFA francs required as a candidate’s deposit, BESSIPING revealed it was money the government itself owed him.
“The Treasury already has enough of my money. With the arrears and the interest they owe me, I am not going to add money to money,” he told reporters, in a comment that drew both laughter and admiration online.
Born in Bandjoun in October 1964, Léopold BESSIPING is no career politician in the conventional sense. A Catholic Christian, husband, and father of two, he built his professional life in the classroom. After earning a degree in mathematics at the University of Yaoundé and completing his training at the École Normale Supérieure in 1990, he became a secondary school physics teacher.
Léopold BESSIPING interviewed by Naija TV
His career took him from the Far North to the West Region, eventually settling at the bilingual high school in Penka-Michel, where he rose to the role of senior discipline master. Although officially retired in November 2024, he continues in the post, awaiting replacement.
But behind this long career lies a personal grievance: years without a salary, the result of what he describes as an unjust suspension of payment. His wages were eventually restored, but the back-pay never came.
BESSIPING leads the Rassemblement des Forces Écologiques pour la Relance de l’Économie (RFERE) whichis a small, ecologically-minded party. Yet his 2025 presidential bid was less a political calculation and more, by his own admission, a statement of principle.
For him, submitting his candidacy was not merely about seeking power, but about leveraging the public stage to demand justice. As one political observer remarked in a viral Facebook post:
“This father, in his suffering, found it wise to use this platform to highlight his problem. He knew his candidacy would be rejected, but by filing, he could place his case before a major institution, and share with the public the grave injustice he is enduring.”
The remark struck a chord in a country where the teaching profession often teeters on the edge of disillusionment. If, as BESSIPING’s case suggests, educators can be left unpaid for years, what does that mean for the future of education itself?
The mix of personal defiance and dry humour turned BESSIPING into a minor folk hero overnight. His declaration about the 30 million CFA deposit became a talking point in WhatsApp groups, Facebook debates, and Twitter threads. Many saw in it the weary wit of an everyman standing up to a system that had wronged him.
Supporters praised him for speaking openly about a plight shared by many civil servants. Critics dismissed his bid as unserious, a theatrical gesture with no electoral weight. But in either case, the attention was undeniable.
With his candidacy rejected, Léopold BESSIPING has lodged a petition at the Constitutional Council, which begin hearing electoral disputes today. 35 such appeals are on the table. The Council has ten days to deliver its rulings and finalise the candidate list.
Whether his appeal will succeed is uncertain. What is clear, however, is that Léopold BESSIPING’s presidential attempt has already achieved something unusual: it has transformed an obscure physics teacher from Penka-Michel into a symbol however fleeting of defiance against bureaucratic injustice.
For now, his supporters wait to see if the Council will restore his candidacy, or if his campaign will remain a brief, defiant footnote in the story of Cameroon’s 2025 election. Either way, his message has been heard far beyond the walls of the courtroom.
By Bakah Derick for Hilltopvoices Newsroom
Email: hilltopvoicesnewspaper@gmail.com
Tel: 6 94 71 85 77