The Right Hon Joseph Mbah Ndam was born in 1955 in Batibo where he attended his primary school, then went to Government Grammar School Mamfe. He then went to the then University of Yaoundé where he ended with a Doctorat de troisième cycle in Private law. He joined the Cameroon Bar Association in 1990 as a full Advocate.
In 1990 he joined the Social Democratic Front at its creation and has since then been one of the most formidable pillars of the Party as an ideologue, a strategist and inspirational figure. He led the college of lawyers who are the Party's Legal Advisers until his demise. He has been a member of the Party's National Executive Committee (NEC), National Advisory Council (NAC) and has led two NEC teams for the reorganization of Party structures in the North West and in the South West where he died still maintaining the latter position.