Global Citizens Festival: Akufo-Addo & 4 Other Presidents Who Have Been Booed On Stage While Delivering Speech

• President Nana Akufo-Addo has joined the league of presidents who have been booed on stage by their audience
• Other presidents who once suffered a similar fate include former US president Donald Trump and controversial South African president Jacob Zuma
• Nana Akufo-Addo was booed at the Global Citizens Festival for superintending over the current economic hardship

President Nana Akufo-Addo made history on Sunday, September 25, 2022, becoming the first Ghanaian head of state in recorded history to be booed at a public event.

The incident itself has triggered a tweetstorm of mixed reactions and gotten many people commenting on various social media platforms in Ghana.

Nana Akufo-Addo was heckled at the UN-sponsored 2022 Global Citizens Festival in what many have said was unfortunate. The president was booed when he walked to the podium to deliver his speech.

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Then shortly after beginning the speech, he was heckled by thousands of youths shouting “away, away,” and “boo…”

The Global Citizens Festival is an annual event to highlight the prevalence of extreme poverty and it brought together top musicians from Ghana and across the African continent and the United States of America.

Comments monitored on social media suggest that many people booed the president because of the worsening economic crisis in Ghana over the last couple of months.

However, President Akufo-Addo is not the first president to be viscously heckled by his citizens while delivering a public speech.

In Africa, the likes of former South African president Jacob Zuma and current president Cyril Ramaphosa come to mind.

But beyond the continent, Nana Akufo-Addo’s booing incident places him in the same league as former US president Donald Trump and Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.

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YEN.com.gh steps back into history to present instances where a crowd made up of citizens has booed their presidents and the reasons behind it.

Lukashenko Booed During His Visit To A Tractor Plant

In 2020, President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko of was heckled by hundreds of workers when he visited a tractor plant. Thousands of other workers are on strike, demanding a change of government after recent elections.

Lukashenko has ruled Belarus for 26 years and has said in the past that the protests against him are organised and funded by shadowy foreign forces.

Donald Trump Booed By An Audience In 2021

Former President Donald Trump drew boos from an audience in Dallas in 2021 after revealing in an appearance with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly that he got a Covid booster shot.

Despite praising his administration's efforts to develop Covid vaccines, Donald Trump rarely discussed his own vaccination. He had also on many occasions failed to encourage others to get it.

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It all started when Bill O'Reilly said, "Both the President and I are vaxxed" and then asks Trump, "Did you get the booster?"

Trump answered: "Yes,” triggering loud “boo” from the live audience of “No Spin News.”

"Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't," Trump says in the video, seemingly trying to quiet the boos. "That's all right, it's a very tiny group over there."

Jacob Zuma Abandons Rally After Being Booed

Jacob Zuma, then president of South Africa, was compelled to abandon a rally on May Day 2017 after he was booed by workers demanding his resignation.

At some point, scuffles broke out between Mr Zuma's supporters and opponents from the main labour federation, Cosatu, resulting in all speeches being cancelled at the May Day event.

Cosatu wanted Zuma out of office because he had sacked his widely respected finance minister.

A video of the booing incident saw the scandal-hit former president hurriedly leaving the podium and being whisked away in a motorcade from the rally in Bloemfontein city.

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South Africa's Cyril Ramaphosa Abandons May Day Rally After Booing

Just like his predecessor, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa also had to abandon a May Day rally this year (2022) after workers stormed the stage where he was speaking.

Angry protestors chanted "Cyril must go," and held up placards demanding a wage increase during the May Day ceremony at a stadium near the north-western city of Rustenburg.

The workers had been demanding an annual salary pay rise of $63.

Akufo-Addo’s Booing Incident At Global Citizens Festival Gets Social Media Talking

Social media in Ghana was plunged into heavy activity with loads of reactions following president Nana Akufo-Addo’s booing incident at the 2022 Global Citizens Festival.

YEN.com.gh has reported in a separate story that while some of the comments were sympathetic to Ghana's president, others were happy.

Some social media users even launched virtual assaults against each other over the incident.

Source: YEN.com.gh