The newly sworn-in president of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Akufo-Addo is enmeshed in a plagiarism scandal as it appears portions of his inaugural speech at the Independence Square on January 7, 2017, was lifted from inaugural speeches delivered by former US presidents, George Bush and Bill Clinton.
President Akufo-Addo while addressing the gathering urged citizens to be active partakers in the running of the country.
“I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities and our nation. Let us work until the work is done,” he said.
A quick Internet check, carried out by Signal, reveals that the above statement is contained in George Bush’s 2001 inaugural speech.
Another part of the speech where Nana Addo urged Ghanaians to believe in their strength in tackling challenges, was also lifted from Bill Clinton’s 1993 inaugural speech. Checks reveal that the only difference in the statement was the replacement of ‘Americans’ with ‘Ghanaians’.
“Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people…”
In a similar development, recall that Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari was recently involved in a plagiarism scandal where it was discovered that he plagiarised portions of a 2008 speech by US President Barack Obama.
After an intense public outrage, Buhari apologised and pretended to sack the ‘deputy director’ responsible for lifting Obama’s speech into his.
