After weeks of extreme speculation about the identification of the anonymous presidential contender whose masked photo appeared on billboards throughout Ghana, the thriller candidate eventually found out himself.

However, Nana Kwame Bediako, a freewheeling businessman who previously hit the headlines for importing a pair of tiger cubs, insisted his guy-in-the-masks act that garnered headlines around the world was something however a gimmick.

“I feel like I’m following the vision of people like Kwame Nkrumah,” Bediako said, referring to Ghana’s liberation hero, a pan-African icon. “They didn’t have a political party at the start, they simply had a motion,” the forty-three-year-old Stated in his first unmasked interview with overseas media.

Bediako’s emergence highlights an openness in Ghana, one of Africa’s strong democracies, to appear beyond the 2 essential parties that have held sway for many years. “Ghanaian politics is in a sad country,” stated Valerie Labi, who heads an e-mobility start-up in Accra, the capital. “The human beings have lost belief and the political elegance is out of contact. The person within the masks is simply the beginning.”

without the hide, Bediako is a familiar face to Ghanaians. he's nicely-known for parlaying his scrap metal and nightclub enterprise right into a mini belongings empire. He also had a broom with the government in 2022 after bringing the two tigers from Dubai. when they grew too large to be stored at his domestic, he built a zoo in Accra to house them.

Bediako stated he released his presidential bid behind a mask due to the object’s energy in African records to scare and confuse an enemy. “If a person is sporting a mask, you need to await me to unveil and find out I’m going to venture you,” he said of his methods. “We were controlling the media area without buying media space,” he said of his campaign, named the brand new pressure.

Bediako stated he found out about his identification earlier than intended after a political conference he tried to keep this month in Accra’s Independence rectangular turned into damaged. the government stated the gap has been booked for another occasion.

His candidacy mirrors the disruption to standard politics using several mavericks from former president Donald Trump inside the US to Javier Milei, the wonder winner of the current presidential election in Argentina. In Africa, Bobi Wine, a Ugandan rapper; Peter Obi, a third-celebration candidate who shook up the closing 12 months of Nigerian election; and George Weah, a former footballer who has become one-time period president of Liberia, have all challenged the popularity quo.

Bediako in comparison with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, became Ukraine's president after starring in a TV comedy, although the Ghanaian claimed to have extra strings to his bow. “I’m now not a comedian — I’m an entrepreneur, I’m a visionary, I’m a philanthropist. while I can combine those matters that gives me the credibility to feature price to society,” he said.

Analysts said the businessman-turned-political-hopeful, whose marketing campaign slogan is “management for the next era”, turned into making the most of disenchantment with the ruling New Patriotic celebration, that's nearing the cease of terms and should face the electorate in December.

underneath Nana Akufo-Addo, the celebration promised the loss of excessive faculty schooling, manufacturing unit jobs, and a give up to corruption. rather, the authorities have been mired in scandals of their own and are widely regarded to have mismanaged the economic system, leading Ghana to default on its $55bn debt in late 2022.

since the giving up of navy rule in 1993, power in Ghana has regularly changed between the 2 events, the NPP and the rival National Democratic Congress. but Bediako, who also goes by the name “Cheddar” — which means that cash in hip-hop slang — stated Ghana suffered from similar issues to the continent’s different wrong democracies.

In Africa, he said, politicians bribed the general public at election time through small handouts however anticipated to cash in once they took electricity. “It’s just like the human beings owe them. we have got a corrupt democratic blueprint,” he stated.

His purpose became to interrupt the mildew of entrenched financial guidelines, which saw Ghana deliver raw substances including cocoa, manganese, and oil with minimal benefit to its population.

“We have these kinds of assets and yet we can make billions out of it. We as an alternative need to exit and borrow billions, and then anyone [else] will pay thousands and thousands to extract trillions,” he stated, adding that foreign traders should need to put money into the United States of America, as they do in Dubai and other successful economies.

despite the thrill around Bediako, analysts stated he would conflict to take on the main parties, which have been highly financed and organized. Former president John Mahama, the opposition chief who misplaced the 2016 election, is expected to make a sturdy challenge for the presidency.

Daniel, a waiter running at a mall in the capital, said he had been following the tale of the masked guy, but additionally viewed it as a stunt. “We know him [Bediako], however, he’s something like a joke,” he said. “I don’t assume he’s going to be president.”

nevertheless, Bediako’s foray into politics does seem to have rattled the authorities, who as well as blocking the Accra conference additionally deported his Belgian spokeswoman, the previous beauty queen Shalimar Abbiusi.

For the person at the back of the masks, this was proof that the status quo became going for walks scared. “They’ve lost emotional manage due to all the eye we’re getting,” he stated.