A Political Communications expert, Eric Opoku-Mensah has poured cold water on the ranging controversy of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo plagiarizing a speech from former United States President, George Walker Bush.
President Akufo-Addo who is set to commence work today has been the subject of local and international media report for failing to acknowledge the source of statements in his speech which many have termed as very inspiring.
Some lines in the speech, it has been reported were lifted from the inaugural speeches of two ex-Presidents of the United States of America.
“Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have been a restless, questing, hopeful people. And we must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who came before us,” Akufo-Addo said.
It echoed former President Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration speech: “Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. And Americans have ever been a restless, questing, hopeful people. We must bring to our task today the vision and will of those who come before us.”
In another line, Akufo-Addo said: “I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities and our nation.”
This line was a repeat of George Bush’s 2001 inaugural 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.”
The Director of Communication at the presidency, Eugene Arhin has since apologized for the errors.
“I unreservedly apologise for the non-acknowledgement of this quote to the original author. It was a complete oversight, and never deliberate,” Eugene Arhin said.
Commenting on this on Adom FM’s Morning Show, ‘Dwaso Nsem’ Monday, the political communications expert said this is no big deal as all around the world, especially in America, people plagiarise others in their speeches.
He further claimed that Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah who is regarded as one of the greatest orators on the continent also plagiarized lines from people to enrich his speeches.
“In Africa, Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah is considered the greatest orator but most of the statements he made were not original, some were from Marcus Garvey, from Russians and also from British poets but in 90 plus something per cent of it, he wasn’t naming the people who made the original statements…,” he said.
Dr Opoku-Mensah who is also a Lecturer at the Cape Coast University further cited examples of speeches by Dr Kwame Nkrumah to buttress his point.
“In 1953 colonial parliament when he (Nkrumah) moved for the motion for Independence which is described as motion of destiny, he quoted the statement of a British World War poet but he failed to acknowledge the poet…during the inauguration of OAU, Osagyefo made a major speech and the last statement was from Marcus Garvey, the same statement that ‘Ethiopia shall stretch forth her hand’ is also in Psalm 63 (Psalm 68) but still he didn’t cite his source. However, everyone who was abreast with Pan Africanist agenda knew he was quoting Marcus Garvey,” he argued further.
The UCC Lecturer also said that United States of Africa was not Nkrumah’s ideas but a statement articulated in 1945 Pan Africanist congress in Manchester and so were Nkrumah’s statements in 1957 calling for African Unity.
To him, the debate is unnecessary as one would hardly come across an ‘original speech’ anywhere in the world.
“There is no original inaugural speech, in America, the speech writers of Presidents-elect go back for the inaugural addresses of previous presidents and just add a few of their own words, in most cases, they don’t acknowledge their sources in the speeches because in most times, it is a style used to make the speeches rich and a flowing one…,” he argued.
He urged Ghanaians to research and analyse speeches by past US Presidents and they will ‘identify similar lines in the inaugural speeches and addresses.’ This practice, he said is permissible because ‘speech making is not academic writing’.
He further urged Ghanaians to focus further on the main points in the spectacular speech delivered by the President instead of concentrating on plagiarized lines.
The solution, he said laid further in speech writers collating the various speeches by former leaders of the country so future Presidents and leaders could reference them.
“Writers of Nana Addo’s speeches have to go back and document all the inaugural addresses made since independence,” he urged.
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