Last two years, in his inaugural speech, Nana Akufo-Addo plagiarized speeches of some world leaders. The explanation that came from the presidency was that it was an oversight problem on the part of the President’s speech writers.
More instructive is the President’s desire to appropriate aspects of his predecessor something many have not taken notice of. Even though Ghanaians associate President Akufo Addo with plagiarism and lack of originality ever since the President plagiarized speeches of Obama, Bush and other world leaders, it still comes as a shock to Ghanaians that the President who was presented to Ghanaians as the new messiah would be so brazen as to steal projects of his predecessor (John Mahama) and still describe him as incompetent.
That shameful act of plagiarizing speeches and stealing projects of his predecessor confirm the common assertion that the manifesto of the NPP was built on a lie. I am not surprised that President Akufo Addo, went so low since it is clear that the man lacks the competence and the wherewithal to initiate prudent policies and projects, the reason Ghana has been in dire strait in the last two years.
If you critically scrutinize his policies and the party’s manifesto you will notice that they replete with false, spurious projections and unsubstantiated figures. Instead of apologizing to Ghanaians for this huge international disgrace, the President’s aides are all over downplaying this shameful act.
The President has shown that he cannot be trusted. The President is presiding over the most corrupt administration in the history of Ghana. It is unfortunate that after two years of taking Ghana in the wrong direction, the NPP government headed by Nana Akufo Addo, still has no concrete plans for the country and hurriedly packaged lies and deceit as its plans for Ghana. Apart from plagiarizing speeches and stealing projects, the other dishonest behavior includes arranging fake awards to be bestowed on President Akufo Addo and paying millions of cedis to international and few local media houses to project the image of the President. The reality of leadership has exploded the illusion of Akufo Addo’s messianic abilities and exposed his incompetence and emptiness. His handlers are therefore using our taxes to rebrand their failed leader. In the momentum election in 2016, Ghanaians voted out the Mahama administration and placed their faith in Nana Addo because of the sweet promises they made and the wicked lies they peddled about the Mahama administration. After two years in power, Ghanaians have realized that the optimistic narrative about Nana Addo was more than a myth. For a president who said was incorruptible and was going to ensure transparency and personal integrity, Akufo Addo’s constant moves to clear his corrupt officials is shocking.
The President’s strong protection he offers corrupt officials in his administration and his administration’s reluctance and continued failure to make full disclosure on the scandals feeds the perception that the President himself is very corrupt and insincere. In 2018, this perception about the President deepened as his appointees and his own kitchen cabinet spearheaded scandalous deals including the famous Kelni GVG deal, the $12 million Oslo deal, the $12 million drones project, the $1.42 billion ID card contract etc. Recently the President’s commitment to the principles and ideals on which he ran for the presidency have been further shattered as two serious scandals have unfolded in succession- one in the oil and gas industry and the other at the BoG.
The President and his chief of staff via the state’s investigative bodies block investigations into fraudulent deals going on in the administration including oil and gas contracts, exporting of bauxite and other minerals.
During the campaign, President Akufo Addo promised Ghanaians that he will never raise the price of petrol, he promised will stabilize the Cedi etc etc. Instead of fulfilling these promises, President Akufo Addo and his economic management team headed by Dr Bawumia, are lurching awkwardly from one bogus idea to another. The man who told us was going to protect the public’s purse through modest spending and lifestyle has descended into self-indulgence and now behave like an ostentatious stereotype of the self-absorbed African autocrat.
President Akufo Addo’s incompetence has broken that elastic myth of counterfactual assumptions around him. That myth, which buried his deficiencies is shattered. Their lies and sweet promises and cooked stories magnified Nana’s mythical competence buried his inadequacies and helped him win the 2016 election.
The man is now improvising aimlessly, looking confused and ill-prepared in office. Some of his own supporters are now saying it would have perhaps been better if he had never owned.