Plagiarism: Too early to fire Arhin – Osae

A governance expert and Dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the Institute of Local Government Studies (ILGS), Dr Eric Oduro Osae, has dismissed calls for the resignation of the Director of Communications at the presidency over the plagiarised portions of President Nana Akufo-Addo’s inaugural speech.

Mr Eugene Arhin has been under pressure to step down over the faux pas. Although Mr Arhin apologised immediately after the issue became public, some Ghanaians still believe he must resign in order to bring credibility to the presidency.

But Dr Osae told Class News’ Kwesi Parker-Wilson that it would not augur well for governance if the president fires his appointee a day after his swearing in but cautioned government to avoid a repeat of such mistakes.

“I think this is in a different context and Eugene Arhin is a young gentleman, and I don’t want to believe it was Eugene Arhin who wrote the speech, except that he came in to defend it because he is the Director in charge of Communications. So lessons will have to be learnt. He has come out to apologise and I think we should avoid these mistakes and make sure we do the right thing next time,” he stated.

Dr Osae added: “I’m sure the president will take internal sanctions against them, cautioning them so that they will not repeat it, but when it comes to resignation or sacking the person, it is too early because the president was sworn in on [Saturday] and if you were sworn in on Saturday and the president tries to sack people a day after swearing in, it doesn’t also augur well for good governance. So, I think the most important thing is that there are lessons to be learnt… I will not subscribe to the president firing people just for this mistake but the lessons must be learnt because this is not the first and will not be the last speech of the president…”