Accra - Ghana’s new president, Nana Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has fired his communications director after it was revealed his inaugural speech was plagiarised.
Videos went viral on Sunday showing the president’s speech contained sections of two US presidential inauguration addresses.
They show Addo on a split screen with former US presidents George W Bush and Bill Clinton, repeating their words exactly.
Communication director Eugene Arhin has been relieved of his duties.
He took to his Facebook page, trying to pass off the plagiarism as a case of lack of referencing and attribution.
He wrote: “My attention has been drawn to references being made to a statement in the speech delivered by the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, at his swearing-in on Saturday, which was not duly acknowledged.
“I apologise for the non-acknowledgement of this quote to the original author. It was a complete oversight. In the same speech were quotes from JB Danquah, Dr KA Busia, Dr Kwame Nkrumah and the Bible, which were all duly attributed”.