New Ghanan president’s speech plagiarized two U.S. presidents

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Nana Akufo-Addo was sworn in on Sunday as Ghana’s fifth elected president, and in his speech, he plagiarized entire sections from two former United States presidents.

“Though our challenges are fearsome, so are our strengths. Ghanaians have ever 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 Saturday, in words nearly identical to ones that Bill Clinton used in his own presidency.

“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 came before us,” Clinton said when he was sworn in for the first time nearly twenty years ago.

Akufo-Addo also plagiarized across the aisle, this time taking words from George W. Bush as he said, “I ask you to be citizens: citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building your communities and our nation.”

The line is also one from a first swearing-in, as Bush said at his inauguration: “I ask you to be citizens: Citizens, not spectators; citizens, not subjects; responsible citizens building communities of service and a nation of character.”