DISCURSIVE STRATEGIES OF MANIPULATION IN THE LATE PRESIDENT MAGUFULI’S CAMPAIGN INAUGURAL SPEECH OF THE 2020 TANZANIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Abstract

This paper explores the use of language as a tool of manipulation in election campaigns in Tanzania by analysing a speech delivered by late President Magufuli during his second-term campaign for the ruling party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (here forth CCM). The study employed Critical discourse analysis (hereafter CDA) as a framework of analysis, specifically Fairclough’s (1989, 2013) three dimensions model for analysing text and talks. The study explores rhetoric as a pivotal element in analysing how language constructs social reality and influences power dynamics. Within CDA, rhetoric plays a crucial role in understanding how language is employed to manipulate minds, construct and shape social realities, and challenge or uphold power relations. In this context, rhetoric serves to inform, persuade, and motivate audiences through various linguistic and communicative means. The findings of the study reveal that the language used in the speech was aimed at manipulating the minds of the voters through various strategies such as appealing to audiences’ religious beliefs, attributing government achievements to the collective efforts of the people, and using personal pronouns ‘we’, ‘our’ and ‘us’ to create a sense of unity. The study also reveals that the speech employed repetition to emphasize the success of the government, and presupposition to negatively portray the opposition contenders while using statistics to positively represent himself and his party before voters. The study concludes that politicians often use language as a powerful tool to manipulate the audience to achieve personal agendas.