Political marketing experts say it is “too late” for the New Force movement to contest the 2024 presidential election if it decides to participate in the December 7 polls.
The experts said the movement could, however, use its platform as an entry channel to mobilise support to contest subsequent elections if it was interested in doing so.
After months of speculation over the identity and motive of a masked man on enigmatic billboards placed at vantage points across the country, Nana Kwame Bediako, widely known as Cheddar or Freedom Jacob Caesar, has revealed himself as the face behind the New Force movement.
He made the revelation at a press conference following the cancellation of a planned public lecture dubbed: “The Convention 2024,” organised by the New Africa Foundation on January 7, 2024.
At the press conference, Nana Bediako said he was not interested in political leadership, adding that his goal was to empower the youth on the continent and utilise Africa’s resources to create wealth and bring hope to the people.
He said his goal was to establish a middle-income economy devoid of government interference, motivated by a sense of responsibility.
“I am not interested in people’s positions, I am not interested in presidential positions, I am interested in the regions, and the humans, I am interested in the country, I am interested in the continent, the resources here, to prove to the world that this is what we can make out of our resources and show to the world,” he said.
Reacting to the development in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Dr Tutu-Boahene, a lecturer at the University of Education Business School, Winneba, described the suspense created by the faceless billboards and the strategy adopted by the movement as perfect.
He said the billboards, however, fuelled the assumption that the “New Force” could be the “third force” that could break the monopoly enjoyed by the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress.
Dr. Tutu-Boahene said Nana Bediako’s goal to champion the development of the continent through entrepreneurship was achievable as it did not require political power to do so.
“If he (Nana Bediako) has his eyes on 2024, it is too late. Probably 2028 but even in 2028 if he decides that he is going to use this channel to bring hope to the youth and for the youth to identify with him, and probably give him some kind of political attention, it is an entry strategy into his political career, then in that case he can use it as a strategy into his political career,” he said.
Speaking to the same issue in an interview with TV3, Professor Kobby Mensah, Lecturer, University of Ghana Business School, said Nana Bediako did not have the “gravitas” to be the third force that people desired.
“He says that I came as your saviour which seems to be that he was speaking to the people, but that was a follow up to having said that ‘I’m not somebody to be afraid of’. So I was quite uneasy in terms of presentation.
“Obviously the strategy has been in disarray…I don’t think that he has the gravitas. He could pull the resources, the people as he did with the kinds of people that he lines up. But when it comes to voting, it is a completely different thing,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Diaspora Affairs Directorate at the Office of the President has clarified why it did not allow the event dubbed: “The Convention 2024”, to take place on Sunday, January 7, 2024, at the Black Star Square.
The Deputy Director of the Diaspora Affairs Directorate at the Office of the President, Dr. Nadia Adongo Fynn, in a statement, said the decision was because of an “unforeseen” state event scheduled to take place at the venue.
“This decision has been necessitated by an unforeseen State Event scheduled to take place at the venue. Under the circumstances, the amount of Ten Thousand Ghana cedis (GHc10,000.00) paid by your office for the use of the venue will be refunded. We regret any inconvenience this may cause,” it said.
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