Ghana’s newly sworn in President, Dr Nana Akufo-Addo has been involved in a plagiarism scandal.
It appears portions of his inaugural speech at the Independence Square, Ghana on Saturday, January 7th, 2017, was lifted from inaugural speech delivered by former US president George Bush.
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.
Parts of President Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s inaugural speech have been found to have been plagiarised.
It has turned out that these were the exact words used by former US President George W Bush.
The words are actually being traced to another United States president, Woodrow Wilson.
President Akufo-Addo did not attribute the statement to anyone in his speech.
Social media has been set ablaze since it emerged that the statement is plagiarised.
Since the revelation that that portion of the speech was plagiarised, Director of Communication at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, has issued an apology.
“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 Dr. J.B Danquah, Dr. K.A. Busia, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Bible which were all duly attributed and acknowledged,” he wrote on Facebook.
