Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo

Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo (born 29 March 1944) is a Ghanaian politician who has served as the president of Ghana since 2017. He previously served as Attorney General from 2001 to 2003 and as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007 under the Kufuor-led administration.

Akufo-Addo first ran for president in 2008 and again in 2012, both times as the candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP). He lost on both occasions to National Democratic Congress’ candidates: John Evans Atta Mills in 2008 and John Dramani Mahama in 2012. After the 2012 general elections, he refused to concede and proceeded to court to challenge the electoral results, but the Supreme Court of Ghana affirmed Mahama’s victory.

He was chosen as the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party for a third time for the 2016 general elections, and this time he defeated incumbent Mahama in the first round (winning with 53.85% of the votes), which marked the first time in a Ghanaian presidential election that an opposition candidate won a majority outright in the first round. It was also the first time that an opposition candidate had unseated an incumbent president. He again secured an outright majority in the first round of the 2020 general elections (winning with 51.59% of the vote), defeating Mahama for a second time.

Akufo-Addo’s Government initially drew broad popularity from the Ghanaian public; promoting a nationalistic ‘Ghana beyond aid’ agenda.The latter part of his tenure has however been mired by the worst financial crises in a generation, with inflation reaching up to 40%. His Government has attributed this to the Russo-Ukrainian War and the COVID-19 pandemic, however neutral observers point to mismanagement of public funds. Press freedom has also significantly deteriorated under his tenure, with Ghana dropping from having the freest media environment in Africa in 2018 to 13th in the 2022 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders (RSF). His government has been largely described as nationalistic, nepotistic and populist.

President of Ghana (2017–present)

Inauguration

Akufo-Addo took office on 7 January 2017. His inauguration was held at Black Star Square in Accra. Twelve presidents from African and European countries attended the ceremony, including Edgar Lungu of Zambia, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria.

Akufo-Addo faced backlash, especially on social media, for plagiarizing parts of his inauguration speech, having lifted passages, word-for-word, from previous inaugural addresses given by American presidents John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush as well as prepared remarks given by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at a 2015 United States Institute of Peace event. After the scandal came to light, his press office issued an apology, with his communication director describing the situation as a “complete oversight and never deliberate.” However, after the mea culpa, it was found that Akufo-Addo had also plagiarized portions of his 2013 concession speech after the Supreme Court of Ghana upheld the 2012 electoral victory of President John Mahama. In that speech, lines were lifted verbatim from United States Vice-president Al Gore’s 2000 presidential concession speech given after the US Supreme Court verdict.

From : Wikipedia