Sam Ankrah is not the face behind the mask – The New Force movement

The New Force, a political movement on social media driven by the ‘The Man in a Mask’ campaign, has refuted media reportage that independent presidential hopeful and businessman, Sam Ankrah, is the man behind the mask.

In a statement dated November 20, 2023, cited by GhanaWeb, the movement indicated that Sam Ankrah has nothing to do with their campaign.

The New Force accused the presidential hopeful of trying to steal the ideas of young Ghanaians to run a political campaign.

“Our attention has been drawn to certain images circulated by one Sam Ankrah on social media fraudulently purporting to be the originator of the viral "The Man in the Mask" campaign created by #TheNewForce. We have also noticed subsequent media publications commissioned by him projecting himself to be "The Man in the Mask."

“We wish to state categorically that the said Sam Ankrah has no connection to the creative concept, design, and inventive process that developed the "The Man in the Mask" campaign.

"We are disappointed that Mr. Sam Ankrah has sought to deliberately exploit the ingenuity of young Ghanaians and coopted their vision and creativity to project dubious political ambitions.

"We consider his conduct to be reprehensible and evidence of a lack of credibility that undermines him as a person as well as someone capable of leading a new political vision for a country that is in need of a clean break from the kind of dirty politics we witness on a daily basis,” part of the statement reads.

The movement also stated that it was filing a complaint against Ankrah at the Electoral Commission because his action amounted to a violation of the Political Parties Act 2000.

“On the advice of our lawyers, our team will be filing a complaint with the Electoral Commission against him for violating Section 6 of the Political Parties Act 2000 (Act 526).

"His conduct constitutes an offence under that Act, and makes him liable to be punished with a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years. Further. We reserve our right to consider civil action against him for infringement of our intellectual property rights including our right over the original artistic and creative works, in the graphics, images, and original text; and the symbols, logos, and distinctive visual layout or presentation

“We demand that he immediately cease and desist from any further use. reproduction, distribution, or modification of our intellectual property. We request further that he deletes the images on all of his platforms, and that he put up an appropriate statement apologizing for the infringement, immediately,” the statement concludes.

What Sam Ankrah said:

In a post on X, Dr. Sam Ankrah, who has announced his candidacy for the 2024 polls spoke about the face behind the mysterious political billboard.

He did not expressly claim to be the person behind the mask, save to rally support for a youth movement.

“Time has come to rally behind a youth movement that seeks to champion transparency & accountability. 'No Masked Promises' symbolizes the rejection of political facades & vows to bridge the gap between promises made & promises kept. Learn more about Dr Sam ANKRAH.#TheNewestForce,” the post said.

BAI/SARA

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