Nana Kwame Bediako

For months in late 2023 billboards across Ghana showed a masked man and the words "The New Force". On 7 January 2024 the property developer Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Cheddar, removed the mask and announced he would run for president that December.

Business

Bediako made his money in trading and property and is best known as the founder of the Kwarleyz Group, the developer behind the Kwarleyz Residences and other upmarket projects in Accra. He has long presented himself as a Pan-Africanist and often invokes Kwame Nkrumah.

The New Force

He revealed himself after a Pan-African convention he had organised for Black Star Square was cancelled. As leader of the New Force movement he ran as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election, campaigning on youth jobs and economic freedom. During the campaign he said a live interview on GTV had been cancelled at the last minute on "orders from above", and he criticised President Akufo-Addo for, in his view, playing down Nkrumah's role in independence.

Disputes

He rejected claims that he had a criminal record in the United Kingdom, saying he had been arrested there several times but never charged or convicted. He also denied reports that he owed more than GH₵7 million in taxes for 2021 and 2022, and said a remark that he would "buy Ghana" had been misquoted.