Ghanaian Reggae musician and radio personality, Blakk Rasta has opened fire on Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly known as Cheddar following his declaration of presidential ambition.
After various speculations, Cheddar announced his decision to contest for president in the upcoming 2024 general election and has already formed his political movement dubbed ‘The New Force”.
Since his declaration, he has been the talk of the town with many questioning if he indeed has the potential to be handed an entire country to lead and Blakk Rasta is one of those out there who don’t believe he has what it takes to be a president.
Before that, Blakk Rasta had earlier criticized Cheddar’s decision to rear tigers at his home, describing it as animal cruelty. The business mogul after listening to Blakk Rasta’s criticism, threatened to purchase the media house where the “Barak Obama” hitmaker works so he could demote him.
Blakk Rasta in his response insists that as an animal activist, removing the claws and teeth of wild animals and forcibly domesticating them is unacceptable and Cheddar should be facing the consequences of that.
He went as far as questioning Cheddar’s personality while describing him as a nobody but a mere “Kubolor” who can’t even speak the proper English language to express himself very well in public.
According to Blakk Rasta, Cheddar cannot construct a proper sentence and the only thing that makes him feel valuable is just because he has money hence there is no way he should be allowed near the presidential seat.
“The President is nothing to us let alone such a ‘Kubolor Boy’ who just got money that cannot even construct proper sentences…I am shocked. This guy wants to be President. Are you mad?” he said.
The radio host also stated that he once challenged Cheddar to face him in a debate so he could prove to the public that declawing a wild animal is illegal.
Rejecting Tax Evasion Claims
The founder of the New Force, Nana Kwame Bediako, denied tax evasion claims by the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA).
The leader of the New Force made headlines in the state newspapers for his failure to file personal income tax returns from 2013 to 2016 and was fined an amount of GH¢50,000.
“Despite settling a sum of GH¢209,171 between 2018 and 2020, he once again failed to file his returns for the post-2020 period,” the publication dated January 18 read.
The publication further added that for the years 2021-2022, the GRA estimated Cheddar’s tax assessment to be GH¢2,088,228 and GH¢5,096,536 respectively, along with penalties for his failure to file his personal income tax returns.
But Mr. Bediako believes that the GRA wanted to disgrace him and tarnish his reputation, suggesting that he was being targeted despite being one of the few individuals consistently paying his taxes.
Nana Kwame Bediako also known as Cheddar has since taken to social media, X to respond to the tax evasion claims on January 18, 2024.
“I woke up this morning, only to see my pictures on the front cover of multiple publications alleging that I have evaded taxes. I have dedicated almost 22 or 23 years in this country. When it comes to taxes, I have consistently fulfilled my obligations and continue to do so,” speaking in local parlance, he said.
Cheddar explained that due to his regular importation of goods into the country, there was no way he could have evaded taxes without being identified to date, adding that even though his tax income was mostly high, he always ensured prompt payment.
In light of this, he could not understand why the GRA would deliberately publish his pictures for tax evasion.
“If we consider the state of the economy and the hardship we face as citizens, it appears the government was doing nothing to alleviate our difficulties. The government intended to disgrace me, so it published my pictures in the papers. No, you cannot disgrace a man whom God has graced,” he said.
He further continued that if the GRA believed that he was tardy in paying his taxes, they could have scheduled a meeting with him rather than resort to the approach they employed.
Cheddar seized the opportunity to appeal to the government to create more jobs to reduce unemployment rather than having only a few private individuals working to earn a living.
He stressed that he has noticed that the government cannot live up to the mandate, for which reason he intends to become the next president of Ghana. However, unlike the government, he would provide evidence of what the taxes are used for.
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