Jefferson Sackey addressing the press
The National Planning Committee for Ghana’s 60th anniversary celebrations on Monday denied plagiarising the anniversary logo, saying that the insignia was an original work commissioned by the committee.
It said the logo, inspired by two adinkra symbols, ‘Mate Masie’ and ‘Tikor? nnk? agyina,’ was designed by one Emmanuel Addo, a student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
At a press conference at the Flagstaff House in Accra on Monday, Jefferson Sackey, Chairman of the Media Sub-Committee of the Anniversary Planning Committee, said the committee went through a deliberate and thorough process to arrive at the logo that was launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo last Thursday.
Mr Sackey claimed that the committee invited and had over 50 proposals from artists and designers, out of which 20 designs were shortlisted.
He said the committee, with the help of some experts, further scaled down the designs to five before settling on the logo which was unveiled last week, adding that the selection process would not lend itself to a plagiarised work.
Over the weekend, social media were awash with news that the logo for the year-long 60th anniversary celebrations that start from the month of March had been copied from an Indian youth association emblem.
Various radio stations also took to discussing the issue, with discussants querying the commission without a lead from it.
Mr Sackey told the media that that accusation was unfounded because “the issue of plagiarism is something that comes to us as a surprise.”
He said the committee’s investigation had revealed that certain interest hurriedly put together a website over the weekend with the same logo, ostensibly to “paint us in a bad light,” to upset the plans of the committee.
Explaining the processes for selecting the design and logo for the year-long anniversary, he said after the president constituted the National Planning Committee, many designers across the country showed interest in designing the logo for the anniversary, therefore, the designers were asked to make presentations to the Media & Branding Sub-Committee.
He said that after intensive deliberations and scrutiny of the designs presented by the various designers, the committee shortlisted five out of the 20 entries, and subsequently Mr Addo’s designed was selected after consultations with experts in the creative arts industry.
The design, Mr Sackey said, captured the essence of the theme for the celebration. It comprises two Adinkra symbols and people holding hands with heads together in a circle, symbolising togetherness, duality of the essence of life, diversity in democracy and inter-dependency.
He said the elements in the design complemented the theme for the anniversary: ‘‘Ghana, 60 years on, mobilising for Ghana’s future.’
Mr Sackey presented the committee’s nationalism project dubbed ‘The Pledge Campaign’ aimed at rejuvenating the Ghanaian spirit of patriotism, ingenuity and self-belief for sustained national development.
The campaign is intended to change the attitudes and mindset of Ghanaians and geared towards building a desirable nation for accelerated national development.
In view of this, he encouraged Ghanaians to share short videos or pictures through the social or print media on how to support the campaign.
This, he said, could be demonstrated through social activities such as volunteering to donate blood, paying taxes to the authorities and keeping the environment clean, as well as eschewing bribes and corruption in society.
He, therefore, urged all Ghanaians to show interest and support the campaign in order to achieve a national ideological agenda.