In the bustling streets of Accra, where ambition roars louder than traffic, enter Nana Kwame Bediako—better known to the masses as Cheddar—the flamboyant entrepreneur, former 2024 presidential hopeful under the New Force banner, and now the central figure in a rather wild courtroom drama.
The Forestry Commission, guardians of Ghana’s forests and wildlife, has ‘pounced’ on Cheddar. On January 26, 2026, their Ecotourism Unit and Wildlife Division hauled him before the Accra High Court, demanding the state seize two majestic tigers (often described as striking white ones) that Cheddar allegedly smuggled into the country without the proper jungle of paperwork.
These big cats first padded onto the scene around 2022, arriving as cubs—sourced reportedly from spots like Dubai or South Africa—and promptly took up residence at Cheddar’s Wonda World Estates pad in a posh Accra neighborhood. Neighbors soon raised alarms over roars, scents, and safety concerns, sparking earlier court tussles and relocation orders that dragged on. Eventually, the tigers found a more bespoke home in what Cheddar styled as a dedicated “big cat wildlife centre.”
Cheddar, ever the showman, christened his striped companions Kunta and Kinte—a nod to the epic tale of resilience in Roots. He framed the whole affair as visionary: importing exotic flair to spark wildlife tourism, shatter norms around animal keeping, and proudly put Ghana on the map as home to tigers never before seen in swaths of West, Central, and East Africa.
But the authorities aren’t buying the safari dream. Tigers, classified as endangered under the global CITES treaty (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species), demand ironclad permits—export clearances from the source country, import approvals here, nods from scientific and management authorities. The Commission alleges none of that paperwork materialized, making the importation a straight-up breach of wildlife protection laws. Since these apex predators hail from Asian forests, not African savannas, they argue private ownership without full compliance crosses into illegal territory.
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This feline face-off arrives amid Cheddar’s other headline-grabbing battles, including a separate High Court enforcement of a hefty UK judgment debt (around $14.9 million). Yet the tiger tussle stands alone, zeroed in on ecological rules rather than financial ledgers.
The case remains live and roaring in court. Whether the state ultimately claims Kunta and Kinte, or Cheddar keeps his unusual entourage, hinges on the judges’ final verdict. For now, Ghana watches as one man’s bold pet project collides head-on with national wildlife law—proving that in Accra, even tigers can end up in legal hot water.