Nana Akufo-Addo presidency got off to a rocky start Saturday after he
was accused of plagiarising a portion of former American president
George Bush’s 2001 inaugural speech.
Akufo-Addo was sworn as the 54th president of Ghana, a country
described as the “gold standard for democracy in Africa” taking over
from John Dramani Mahama. But the new president’s inauguration was
blighted by the accusation of directly lifting from Bush’s own
inauguration speech.
In his speech, Bush said: “I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not
spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building
communities of service and a nation of character.”
Akufo-Addo said: “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.”
This is not the first time West African presidents would be accused of plagiarising American presidents’ speeches.
In September 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari came under fire from
critics after admitting part of his “Change Begins With Me” speech was
copied from US President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech. His aides
put the blame on an unnamed “overzealous speech writer.”
Buhari’s speech read in part “We must resist the temptation to fall
back on the same partisanship, pettiness and immaturity that have
poisoned our country for so long. Let us summon a new spirit of
responsibility, spirit of service, of patriotism and sacrifice. Let us
all resolve to pitch in and work hard and look after, not only ourselves
but one another.”
Obama had in different parts of his 2008 victory speech said: “Let’s
resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship, pettiness
and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long…
“So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility,
where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not
only ourselves but each other.”
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