New Force offers redemptive change — Nana Kwame Bediako

The move, he said, was to build a new nation and a new Ghana that offered the youth economic opportunities.

“The New Force is a movement that is introducing the independent aspirant president into the country,” he said in an interview with Graphic Online.

“We still are looking forward to have a political party to break the duo politics, but it’s not that simple; the complications are quite a lot,” he added.

The 43-year-old entrepreneur, who also calls himself Freedom Jacob Caesar and who recently unveiled his identity as the character behind the movement, said he planned to empower the citizens economically to venture into entrepreneurship.

“As a country, we are not doing what commit us to become successful, we are not helping our people to become successful; our economy is being drowned by ourselves and we are starving our people,” he said.

Nana Bediako described the situation as “sad”, stressing that the New Force was formed to change the narrative where majority of the youth were jobless even after obtaining the highest qualification.

The industrialist, who said he took inspiration from the country’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, said he was hopeful of causing a change on the political landscape.

“I have come as the new unifier between the youth and the government, the New Force; this is the courage and spirit behind us,” he said, expressing physical emotions.

Nana Bediako said he hoped to build on the local economic and human resource base of the regions to create jobs for the people.

Time value

When asked how he could campaign and win power in less than a year, the presidential hopeful said he had never underestimated the power and value of time, and he was confident of sending his message through the country by December 7.

“If in less than two-and-a-half months after the start of our campaign we have almost gotten half of the nation talking about the New Force, then you can imagine what we can do with the rest of the time we have.

“I think Ghana as a nation should embrace and respect us and know that we have something coming.

We can use the rest of the period to go places and do things that would even impact the people more than the existing template that the politicians are using to call it campaign,” he added.

Nana Bediako, also known as Cheddar among peers and close pals, gained a reputation as a successful entrepreneur and real estate developer, and said he was excited about the peace in the country.

Botched convention

Touching on the cancellation of his highly publicised convention, the New Force Founder said although he was disappointed, the cancellation of the event had also helped to project his movement.

Initially scheduled for Sunday, January 7, 2024, at Black Star Square to coincide with Ghana’s Constitution Day, the event was abruptly cancelled a few hours before its commencement as state security personnel formed a human wall that cordoned off the area following what the organisers cited as a last-minute directive from the government.

According to the New Africa Foundation, the organisers of the event, all the speakers, namely Professor P. L. O. Lumumba of Kenya, Julius Malema of South Africa, Dr Arikana Chihombori-Quao of Zambia, and Peter Obi of Nigeria, and thousands of patrons had filled the Independence Square for the event when the directive for the cancellation reached them.

Cheddar rejected claims of plans to use the platform of the convention to unveil his movement, stressing that the event was “going to impact people”.