Apologize yourself for plagiarized speech– Koku Anyidoho to Akufo-Addo

President Akufo-Addo has been advised to seize the moment and take the moral high ground to apologize to Ghanaians on the debacle of portions of his inaugural speech.

Deputy General Secretary of the opposition National Democratic Congress(NDC), Koku Anyidoho, speaking on Anopa Kasapa on Kasapa 102.5 FM, indicated that for the President to have publicly read a plagiarized quote from another public personality, without credit to the originator, it is critical for him not to withdraw from speaking to the issue himself.

Social media has been awash with some quotes in Nana Addo’s speech, believed to have been lifted from speeches originally made by two former American Presidents – Woodrow Wilson and Clinton.

President, Akufo-Addo in his inaugural speech that has been widely commended, quoted Thomas Woodrow Wilson, an American politician and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921.

“We are bound by ideals that teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these ideals. Every citizen must uphold them…. I ask you to be citizens. Citizens, not spectators. Citizens, not subjects. Responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.” Wilson said in a speech in 1913.
An apology from the Communication Bureau of the Presidency has been released in the media for the blunder caused, over the portions of President Akufo-Addo’s inaugural speech, which clearly did not acknowledge the sources of the quotes he used during his investiture.

But, Anyidoho commenting on the issue said the matter is beyond the remit of a mere communicator- Eugene Arhin, hence the President must be responsible to “apologize himself with his voice.”