A Plus Jabs Ghanaians Over Akufo-Addo’s “Plagiarized Speech”

Controversial Ghanaian musician A Plus has yet again emerged with another controversial posturing as he chided Ghanaians for accusing President Akufo-Addo of plagiarizing sections of the inaugural speeches of US Presidents, Bill Clinton and George Bush.Social media went rife Saturday, January 7, as several persons criticized the newly elected President for having disgraced the country by lifting his inaugural speech from previous ones delivered by the former US Presidents.

Musician A Plus however thinks Ghanaians are overdramatizing something he describes as a “mere human error”. According to him, it was simply an omission on the part of the President, one he says is evident seeing that he credited previous quotes to the original authors. He added that President Akufo-Addo lifted those words in relation to current trends in Ghana.

He accused critics of being bias by focusing only on the errors in the speech instead of directing their attention to the great words contained in the speech, asking probing questions that will lead to an eventual growth in the country and rallying behind the President to push for development in the country.

“who said the speech is George Bush’, he also took it from a source. Nana Addo quoted everything else; Kwame Nkrumah once said, JB Danquah once said, he only forgot to mention George Bush, is he not human to forget? ….The speech is a great one, it relates to our lives, Instead of taking the sense in the speech, we are talking about plagiarism….we should be questioning the probability of the promises being actualized and helping him actualize them…..”

The President in his speech at the inauguration ceremony Saturday stated, “"I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities ……..and a nation of character.”

Checks reveal that Former US President George Bush said same in the last 6 paragraphs of his inaugural speech.

“What you do is as important as anything Government does. I ask you to seek a common good beyond your comfort, to defend needed reforms against easy attacks, to serve your Nation, beginning with your neighbor. I ask you to be citizens: Citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.

Following this, Press Secretary to the President, Eugene Arhin rendered an apology stating an oversight as the reason for the unfortunate blunder. He added that failure to acknowledge the source of the quote like he did for previous ones from Dr. JB Danquah, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and the Bible was not a deliberate act.