Ghana's masked presidential candidate adds sense of mystery to election

Billboards featuring a mysterious masked figure have appeared in cities across Ghana in the run-up to the country's 2024 presidential election.

The "enigmatic" posters feature an "unidentified figure cloaked in a mask" alongside the slogan #TheNewForce, said GhanaWeb. They started to appear last month in Accra, Kumasi, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Ho and Tamale, according to Semafor.

With the presidential election a year away, the emergence of a new, anonymous  contender has added an "air of mystery and curiosity to the already charged political atmosphere", GhanaWeb added.

'The New Force' or a familiar face?

While some view the figure as a "symbol of hope" and a "fresh contender distinct from the traditional players" of Ghana's two main political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), others have expressed scepticism over the stunt.

"It will be difficult to vote for someone whose face I cannot see," said one member of the public speaking to GhanaWeb.

Almost nothing is known for certain about the candidate and "The New Force" beyond its billboard messaging, which promises "leadership for a new generation".

In late November, the campaign issued a statement promising that their masked candidate would be revealed in "the shortest possible time" alongside its "policy objectives and goals". But so far, few details have emerged.

Online, and in the Ghanaian media, there is speculation that the masked figure may be businessman and socialite Nana Kwame Bediako, also known as "Cheddar".

"It is obvious it is Cheddar, the stature of the individual looks exactly like him," said graphic designer Felix Frimpong from Accra, speaking to Semafor.

Bright Simons, research lead at the Imani Centre for Policy in Accra, wrote on X that he believed Bediako was the "bankroller" of the movement, calling him a "maverick businessman" with "a thing for tamed, neutered, tigers". This is a reference to a recent BBC story, which said that Bediako had been ordered to remove two imported pet tigers living at his home in Accra.

The beginning of a third political force?

Power in Ghana has alternated between the two main political parties, the NPP and the NDC, since the country embraced multi-party democracy in 1992.

But critics say their governance "has been marred by nepotism, corruption, and financial mismanagement", said Semafor.

The New Force's supporters hope the campaign could herald the emergence of a new, third political force in the country. But it is unlikely the campaign will be able to win enough support in the next year to take on Ghana's ruling parties.

"A third force will be difficult to emerge at this time to disrupt the NDC or NPP within the next 12 months," said political analyst Professor Samuel Adu-Gyamfi, speaking to the news site.

And the campaign will also have to compete with Movement of Change, a political group founded by Alan Kyerematen, a former trade minister who left the ruling NPP.

Few other details have emerged about the campaign, save for short videos posted to The New Force's X account, featuring the campaign's apparent spokesperson, 30-year-old Belgian national Shalimar Abbiusi.

In one video, Abbiusi says that the campaign's agenda is that "of the people of Ghana" to "look into our current state" and figure out "how to attain the aspirations of the people".

But the campaign is facing further controversy after Abbiusi's arrest earlier this month on charges of acquiring a student permit in Ghana through false declarations, according to GhanaWeb.

Prosecutors subsequently dropped the charges against her, but she has since been re-arrested by the Ghana Immigration Services, reported the news site.