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iIt was a bombastic statement from the man who wants to disrupt the two-party political scene in Ghana. “I am here to represent Africa’s greatest hope,” Nana Kwame Bediako told an audience in the Committee Chamber of the Palace of Westminster in central London in October, referring to the continent’s younger people.
After the event, a social media post by Bediako suggested the trip involved a presentation in Parliament itself, rather than an address to a committee room.
Taken together, the trip and its somewhat loose framework were typical of the 44-year-old president’s unorthodox bid for the Dec. 7 presidential election.
Bediako burst onto the political scene earlier this year when he was revealed as the man behind the mysterious masked figure appearing on billboards across the country.
Already a well-known businessman, he ran as an independent candidate with the support of the New Power Movement, a party he founded to support his attempt. Although seen as a candidate with long-term prospects, his campaign, which echoes the pan-Africanism of the country’s first leader Kwame Nkrumah, is seen as succeeding in tapping into the aspirations of younger voters in a country where the median age is 21.
Asked in an interview with the Guardian in London about his chances of winning, Bediako replied: “It depends on what winning means to you. Becoming president is one thing, but I will respect the fact that I was able to unite people’s attitudes, I call that a victory.
“I was able to win the hearts and minds of the rising youth. I was able to inspire and motivate them, I was able to wake up their spirit.”
George Bob-Milliard, professor of African studies at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, said Bediako had successfully entered “a very free space that allows for popular expressions of people’s aspirations” in Ghana.
Bob-Milliard said Bediako’s “fun” approach and use of technology had appealed to younger people, adding: “If he is able to deny the two big parties a first round victory then he will be in a good position to try to negotiate something about his movement.”
On social media, Bediako – also known as Cheddar or Freedom Jacob Caesar – boasts that he is the “prince of the new Africa”. He was photographed with a lion skin draped around his neck, dressed head to toe in Louis Vuitton and posed on a Lamborghini. He has two tigers that he imported from Dubai to his property in Accra, which the court ordered to be removed.
His political platform – which includes harnessing national resources, thwarting foreign influence and creating a single African currency – made headlines. However, Nick Cheeseman, a political scientist and professor at the University of Birmingham, said: “It’s easy to kind of go out and make a big splash and get a bit of attention, but turning that into votes and a sustainable movement and a sustainable party is much more challenging .”
The vote comes amid economic uncertainty in Ghana. Inflation was close to 23% in June, and the country received a $3 billion bailout from the IMF last year.
Bediako, a serial entrepreneur, said his personal wealth is no barrier to understanding the struggles of his fellow citizens. “I have climbed the ladders of struggle and seen the death of corporatism,” he said. “You would think that wealth would make it disappear, but the sad thing is that when you get richer, you start to see people’s struggles more than when you were in this space.”
He said the idea to enter the presidential race came to him in a dream one early morning. After he woke up, he told his wife that he was going to start a political party, become president, and eventually lead all of Africa. “She looked at me and thought I was crazy. I must have been crazy at that very moment,” he said.
Bediako took aim at what he called failures of governance at the national level in Ghana. Discipline must come from the top down, starting “from the moment we practice democracy in terms of our voting systems,” he said
In 2021 in Ghana, 17.4 million bribes were paid, according to a UN report, which also found that 10.3% of the adult population reported being offered money in exchange for their vote before or during the 2020 general elections Mr.
Ghanaian economist Theo Acheampong likened Bedkiako to disruptors like Donald Trump, particularly in his use of social media to reach untapped voters.
“He won’t necessarily win,” Acheampong said. “He doesn’t have to win though, all he has to do is disrupt the election.”
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