5 times Ghana's president was at the center of controversies in the country

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was sworn in as the 5th President of the 4th Republic after winning the 2016 general elections on the back of successful campaign which was backed by a promising manifesto which was anchored on the economic development and the landmark Free SHS policy.

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Even though the President has been able to implement some of his policies, there have some controversial instances which have put the President on the front pages for the not-so-good reasons.

Business Insider Sub Saharan Africa chronicles 5 of them.

1. Inaugural speech Plagiarism

The January 7 inauguration was earmarked to be the start of the ‘competent’ Akufo-Addo regime and all ears were on the inaugural speech, which was expected to set the tone for a new level of possibility and good governance. Speech lovers were anxiously waiting for quotable quotes from the fluent president. Few minutes after the well-written and delivered speech, there were video evidences, which suggested that the President had plagiarized the speech of former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. This surely brought so much embarrassment to the new government as foreign new channels carried the story.

2. Ministerial appointments

When it was confirmed that the President was going to work with a total of 110 ministers, the media took the story to the printers and scrutinized the decision of the President. The financial burden of managing an elephant government was unimaginable to some people but the President insisted that the ministers he has chosen are people he thinks can help him the fix the problems he inherited from the erstwhile Mahama administration.

3. Vigilantism and the release of delta 8

One of the major challenges of the Akufo-Addo government has been the inability to maintain internal security. There have been not less than 18 cases of vigilante violence since the NPP won the 2016 election and this has painted a bad image for the ruling party especially when they have been tagged a violent group in the past.

4. Corruption

One area that the NPP hit hard on the NDC while in opposition was on corruption and one would have expected that we would never hear of the word under the NPP. However, there have been some allegations and controversial government deals including the Appointment Committee bribery case, the US$2.25 billion Bond saga and the BOST contaminated fuel scandal which have raised some questions about the integrity of the president’s appointees and whether they are really immune to corruption.

5. Comments on Homosexuality

In a recent interview with Aljazeera’s Jane Dutton, the President, in response to a question on the legalization of homosexuality said, “At the moment, I don’t feel, I don’t see that in Ghana there is that strong current of opinion that is saying this is something we need to deal with. It is not so far a matter that is on the agenda.” Some individuals and groups including the Christian Council have come out strongly against the president’s comment insisting that the government must come clear on its policy directive on the issue of Gay rights.

Swearing in of Nana Akufo-Addo and Dr Bawumia