ACCRA (Reuters) – Ghana’s President Nana Akufo-Addo came under fire on
\nSunday when it emerged that his inaugural address plagiarized quotes from
\nspeeches by U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.<\/p>\n
The outcry on social and national media over Saturday’s speech took the
\nshine off a moment of triumph for the former opposition leader, who won a
\nconvincing victory in December after twice losing battles for the
\npresidency.<\/p>\n
The slip is embarrassing in part because Akufo-Addo’s New Patriotic Party
\n(NPP) prides itself on the professional competence of its leadership.<\/p>\n
The party has outlined policies aimed at creating jobs, fighting poverty,
\npromoting business and restoring Ghana to its status as one of Africa’s
\nmost dynamic economies.<\/p>\n
“It’s a wake up call that there’s been a transition from leader of the
\nopposition to the presidency and I’m sure he (Akufo-Addo) will be more
\ncareful in future,” pollster and author Ben Ephson told Reuters, adding
\nthat any political damage is unlikely to be lasting.<\/p>\n
Many commentators had praised the statesman-like nature of the speech of
\nabout 26 minutes, delivered to an audience of dignitaries and foreign
\nleaders moments after Akufo-Addo took the oath of office.
\nThe Director of Communications for the presidency, Eugene Arhin,
\napologized for the errors on Facebook, calling it a “complete oversight
\nand never deliberate”. He noted that the speech contained four correctly
\nattributed quotations.<\/p>\n
Other NPP leaders close to Akufo-Addo declined to comment on how the
\nerrors occurred.<\/p>\n
The criticism focused on two sentences in Akufo-Addo’s speech.<\/p>\n
“I ask you to be citizens, citizens not spectators, citizens not subjects,
\nresponsible citizens building your communities and our nation,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have
\never been a restless, questing, hopeful people and we must bring to our
\ntask today the vision and will of those who came before us.”<\/p>\n
The first line almost matches one from Bush’s inaugural address in 2001,
\nwhile the second mirrors Clinton’s inaugural speech in 1993 with only the
\ncountry name changed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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