COPYCAT! Ghana’s New President, Akufo Addo Accused Of Massive Plagiarism In Inauguration Speech
Ghana inaugurated and swore in their new president, Nana Akufo Addo yesterday, amid much fanfare.
The event was heavily attended by dignitaries and highly placed government officials across the African continent.
After being sworn in, the president as custom demanded, gave his inaugral speech which was met by huge applause by all and sundry at the inaugural Square.
But on closer inspection of the speech by some pranksters, it was discovered that some excerpts of the speech had actually been plagiarized.
He joined a list of celebrity plagiarism incidents in recent times. Videos emerging online showed President Akufo-Addo lifted lines from speeches earlier made by former American Presidents, George Bush and Bill Clinton.
In one video, President Akufo-Addo says, “I ask you to be citizens; citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities and our nation.”
Those words were later discovered to have been ostensibly plagiarised from George Bush’s inauguration speech in 2001.
A second video also shows President Akufo-Addo reading exact lines once delivered by Bill Clinton at his inauguration as US president in 1993.
The words, “Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Americans have ever been a restless, questing and hopeful people, and we must bring to our task today, the vision and will of those who came before us,” were copied from Clinton’s speech and inserted in Akufo-Addo’s speech with a mere substitution of “Americans” with “Ghanaians.”
A director of communication at the Ghanaian presidency, Eugene Ahin has apologised for portions of the swearing-in speech read by President Akufo-Addo which did not cite the sources and true authors of some of the quotes he used.
According to GhanaliveTV, Mr Ahin attributed the alleged act of plagiarism to an oversight from a member of staff and maintained that it was not done intentionally.
