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Vice President of policy think tank IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, has voiced his concern over the cancellation of \u2018The Convention,\u2019 the event scheduled to unveil the face behind #TheNewForce, which eventually turned out to be Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Cheddar.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mr Bentil, known for his advocacy on various social and political issues, believes that Cheddar is introducing a distinctive dimension to Ghana\u2019s political landscape, and the cancellation of his event should not have happened.<\/p>\n Kofi Bentil expressed his disappointment over the cancellation, stating, the President should not have gone anywhere near the event.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president should not go anywhere near this program. This is someone arranging a meeting and then someone [from the Presidency] decides that they are going to cancel the meeting for very bad, wrong reasons,\u201d he said on January 13.<\/p>\n He called for an investigation into the matter, pointing out that the letter issued was mandated by the presidency, and he wondered if all letters issued by the presidency had the proper authority.<\/p>\n \u201cOur presidency sometimes seems to issue things, and you don\u2019t know who is singing what and that for me, is more worrying than the event itself,\u201d Mr. Bentil said.<\/p>\n According to him, that is more worrying than the event itself.<\/p>\n His comments were prompted by Professor Agyemang Duah\u2019s assertion on the show, stating that President Akufo-Addo should have addressed the cancellation of \u2018The Convention.\u2019<\/p>\n Prof. Duah emphasised that the President was expected to make a pronouncement and denounce the cancellation if he did not approve or knew about it, stating that persons behind it had embarrassed him as the head of state.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it were the case that somebody did that, then somebody must take the fall to protect the president. In our governance system, you don\u2019t get anybody taking the fall to protect a higher person like the president,\u201d Prof. Agyemang Duah stated.<\/p>\n On the back of this, Mr Bentil criticised the cancellation of the New Force event organized by Nana Kwame Bediako and disagreed with attempts to hinder his political ambitions.<\/p>\n \u201cHe says he\u2019s our salvation and he\u2019s here to save us, let\u2019s take it as it is, he\u2019s wearing a Voodoo mask and he says we shouldn\u2019t be afraid of him, let\u2019s take it like that. He\u2019s going to inject some kind of levity into the political campaign.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we should not do is to deploy serious state resources to try and cancel his event. The cancellation is more news than the event and I think we should be spearing the use of state resources,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The Senior Vice President of IMANI-Africa emphasised that the cancellation of the event was entirely unnecessary and urged the government to allow Mr. Bediako to proceed with his plans.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the scheme of things politically and nationally, I really do not think that this rises to the kind of event that requires presidential intervention. This is a young man who is injecting a different dimension into our politics, just let him,\u201d said Mr. Bentil.<\/p>\n