The office of Ghana’s new President, Nana Akufo Addo has apologized profusely following the revelation that a part of the inaugural speech delivered by the President at the Black Star Square in Accra on Saturday January 7, was plagiarized.
A portion of the President’s speech was lifted from the inaugural address delivered by former US President George Bush in January 2001, when he assumed office.
Mr. Bush’s speech read: “I ask you to be citizens: Citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character”.
Where as the one delivered by Nana Addo to Ghanaians also read “I ask you to be citizens; citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities and our nation.”
This development has ignited harsh criticim from a section of the public accusing the President’s speech writers of being intellectually dishonest and as a result should resign honourably or be fired for the faux pas.
But in a response, the Communications Director at the Presidency Eugene Arhin attributed the blunder to an “oversight”.
He wrote on Facebook : “My attention has been drawn to references being made to a statement in the speech delivered by the President of the Republic, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at his swearing in on Saturday, January 7, 2017, which was not duly acknowledged.
“I unreservedly apologise for the non-acknowledgement of this quote to the original author. It was a complete oversight, and never deliberate. It is insightful to note that in the same speech were quotes from J.B Danquah, Dr. K.A. Busia, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Bible which were all duly attributed and acknowledged”.
