Ghana's President Ripped Off A Bunch Of US Presidents In His Inaugural Speech

Uh, whoops?

BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on January 10, 2017, 5:51 pm

Live From Mogadishu @Daudoo

#Ghana’s new President @NAkufoAddo caught plagiarizing Bill Clinton & George Bush's inaugural speeches word for wor… https://t.co/pNNHDt1FxR
04:24 PM - 08 Jan 2017
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In addition to lifting lines from Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, as noted in this video, he also stole a line from John F. Kennedy — “if a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it can’t save the few who are rich.”

Comedy Central

"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,” Eugene Arhin wrote. "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.”

Hayes Brown
BuzzFeed News Reporter
Contact Hayes Brown at hayes.brown@buzzfeed.com.
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Ghana's President Ripped Off A Bunch Of US Presidents In His Inaugural Speech

Nana Akufo-Addo, the fourth president of Ghana, took the oath of office on Sunday in a peaceful transfer of power that should serve as a model for other countries in the region.

But things...didn't exactly go completely smoothly.

As an eagle-eyed reporter pointed out, he kind of sort of definitely lifted passages from a couple of US presidents' inaugural addresses.

The new president's communications director took to Facebook to issue a mea culpa for the "mistake."

It's just the latest multi-presidential plagiarism scandal to hit Africa — last year, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari totally stole some words from US President Barack Obama.

For the last word on the matter, here's former president and victim of plagiarism William Jefferson Clinton for his response to Akufo-Addo's faux pas*.