Iddi
Muhayu-Deen writes…
Many of us
thought the NDC was very incompetent in government, so we sent them to
opposition. Little did we know that, they were going to be even more
incompetent in opposition. In the circumstance therefore, one wonders what at
all they are good at and whether they would ever be associated with competence.
The least said about their incompetent attempt to pooh-pooh President Akufo
Addo’s scholarly inaugural speech over a ‘plagiarism charge’, the better.
It is pretty
obvious that they have been overwhelmed by the impeccable success of last
Saturday’s event contrary to their expectations and so, they needed to necessarily
create something negative in order to steal the positive headlines from that
fine national occasion. Even in perpetrating this diabolic mischief, they’ve
been so incompetent. As we all know, H.E President Nana Addo delivered an award
winning inaugural speech that lasted over 35 minutes and possibly made over a
million sentences.
The NDC and
their ‘think-alikes’ have issues with ONLY four or five sentences which they
claim were plagiarized and they expect us to focus on this ‘infinitesimal’
whilst overlooking the overwhelming positives in the inaugural speech. The very
positives which have awoken our national consciousness. Some education for them:
The web defines PLAGIARISM as “copying so many words or ideas from a source
that it makes up the majority of your work, whether you give credit or not”. Was
that what happened?
Again, how
can they accuse someone of plagiarizing a statement which was originally made
over 70 years ago? Maybe I should refer them to Section 33 of the COPYRIGHT ACT
1968. It is not for nothing that President Bush of the United States wasn’t
accused of plagiarism when he repeated this statement which was first made by
Wilson Woodrow (the 28th President of US between 1913 to 1921) in
his inaugural speech.
That
statement has since become a political dictum which is being reechoed by many World
Leaders and Presidents across the globe including President Nana Akufo-Addo of
Ghana. What is good for the World and America in particular, is surely good for
Ghana.
Indeed, John
Mahama, the outgone President also repeated John F. Kennedy’s popular statement
that reads, “In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than mine, will rest the
final success or failure of our course” in paragraph 16 of his inaugural speech
in 2013 without acknowledgment. It wasn’t a big deal then, so why should it be
a big deal now? Of course, it is because the NDC is the party that is in
opposition and Nana Addo, their number one rival, is the man at the center.
Per all the
examples we have in history regarding this subject, it can be concluded that
political plagiarism is a NO issue in this World. It is not an issue in
America; it is not an issue in Australia; it is not an issue in Nigeria and
therefore CANNOT be an issue in Ghana. If political plagiarism were an issue,
then I’m sure MTN would have sued John Mahama and the NDC for using their “edey
bee k3k3” slogan for their campaign in 2012. I’m sure Ussain Bolt would have
sued John Mahama for stealing his unique ‘trademark’ for his 2016 campaign etc.
What is an
issue in this World is ACADEMIC PLAGIARISM. That is why people found guilty of
academic plagiarism get punished or prosecuted. That is why people are in jail
for various copyright offences. That is why Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, the current
NDC Minority Leader in Parliament lost his Masters Degree in University of
Ghana when he was found guilty of plagiarism in his thesis.
It is
noteworthy that even though Nana Addo’s speechwriters did not really err, the
Head of Communications at the Presidency nonetheless, had the HUMILITY to
apologize to Ghanaians who felt let-down by this development, which is a direct
consequence of the NDC’s mischief. Can you imagine if it were an NDC government
that was caught in this controversy? Do you think they would have apologized
for this?
In fact, not
only would they have arrogantly justified it but would have also insulted us
for being critical of them. As for the multimedia group [a.k.a regime chargers
in NDC lexicon], acidic hell would have broken loose on them for deliberately
creating a video out of same and publishing it on their website with the view
to ridiculing the President [H.E Nana Addo]. But of course, the NPP understands
democracy so nobody is attacking joy fm and the multimedia group for this disservice.
If it were
the NDC, we all know that the babies with sharp teeth would have been at their
vitriolic best by now. I’m sure you know that throughout their 8-years, the
Presidency [Flagstaff House] never apologized to Ghanaians for the countless
international embarrassments visited on this country including the shameful
conducts of the likes of Koku Anyideho and Stan Dogbo of the world of arrogance
and ‘buga buga’.
That is why I
always maintain that Ghanaians have every reason to rejoice because the
government of H.E Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr. Bawumia would create a Ghana of
tolerance; a Ghana of responsibility; a Ghana of accountability and more
importantly, a Ghana of respect for the ordinary taxpayer. Ghana would surely
work again INSHA ALLAH.
Assalamu
alaikum
Please, it is
shareable…
you know it's quite sickening that even when a new president has been sworn in, and instead of us trying to move to work together and move foward. the slightest critic of the president is related to the the main opposition (in this case the NDC).
ReplyDeleteWe would not allow any idiot to segregate our nation by political party support.
Foreign news networks are broadcasting this "so called plagiarism stuff" thus making a mockery of our nation and everything we stand for.
and then instead of saying something sensible, one idiot goes and blogs about the NDC being jealous about the success of the program and so on and so forth, also goes ahead to call the NDC 'incompetent in opposition'
What nonsense!
I pray this gets to him.
if you have nothing sensible to say, do not talk.
which leader or public figure of the NDC has come out to discredit Nana Addo Based on his speech.
and then you come around to spew this rubbish.
We are one Ghana and as such everyone is behind him as the president to work efficiently, Mahama said "the people have spoken" and as such it has become a necessity to work hand in hand in forging a great nation.
So he plagiarized, so what?!
There are real issues.