Oh, Mr President! Why?

President Nana Akufo-Addo

Was it not the same social media we used a couple of weeks ago to ensure CNN edited an earlier story they published about Ghana which we believed was not the true representation of happenings in our beloved country?

So why all these? Why all these plagiarism brouhaha? Instead of us talking about the beautiful ceremony, instead of us discussing the thought provoking speech made by the President yesterday and thinking about ways we can individually be the change we desire, instead of us making noise about the statesmanship displayed by President Mahama so loud that it reaches the ears of that Gambia man, instead of us making the excellency of our democracy go viral, instead of us portraying Ghana as the beacon of hope and peace in Africa to attract foreign investors, instead of us displaying our beautiful tourist attraction sites to the world to attract tourists, here we are, behaving as if Ghana had not made history yesterday? Here we are talking about a so called plagiarized speech by our President, denting our own image!

And foolishly (excuse my language) enough, we're making it seems as if it was the entire speech that was plagiarized! Now, take a minute and answer this: what's the percentage of the so called plagiarized section relative to the entire speech? Infinitesimal! Incalculably minute! You see your life now? Does, "twice I did good and that I hear never; once I did bad and that I hear forever," rings a bell?

What happens to the praises we received from the recognised international organizations during and after our election? What happens to the accolades we received across the world yesterday? Are they not worth making go viral more than this non-issue? Can't we spread these stories instead? What happens to patriotism?

The West never believed in us. They are not ready to spread our beautiful stories. When it's about Africa, give them one negative story and a thousand positive ones, they'll gladly choose to report the one bad one!

Listen, from Adam, the West is not ready to celebrate us. As my people from the Ewe land would say: "Wo me nya'me fe avorvuvu le dzutofo o", to wit, one does not wash his tattered clothe in public, we must learn to decide the stories we want the world to hear about us.

We must learn to write our own stories. We must learn to sing our own praises. It is only when we can consciously and successfully do these that we can erase the evil, morbid wrong stories the West has told her sons and daughters about us.

Mr President was right afterall! We must become citizens! We must change ourselves first, our attitudes! Let's be citizens and not spectators! Citizens protect the image of her country; spectators don't!

Remember, every post you write on social media or on a blog about this plagiarism brouhaha erases a paragraph from the praises we received across the world about our feats and democracy! Every post like, post share, or negative comment you make about this plagiarized speech, dims the light this beautiful 'mountain' called Ghana is radiating to the world. Be a citizen and spread the beautiful stories of our Country to the West!

God bless you my President, our President, Nana Akuffo-Addo. You were right after all. We must be citizens! I must confess I loved your speech yesterday. In fact, 'something was doing my inside' when you were speaking yesterday. I pray thee wisdom to surround yourself with the right team.

God bless our homeland Ghana!
The Author is Elorm Hermann. He is a writer, a public speaker and the author of the mind-boggling masterpiece Unleashing the Hero in You. Contact him on +233249177007 or [email protected]