ULINGANUZI WA USEMI WA KISIASA KATIKA KAMPENI ZA URAIS NCHINI KENYA MIEZI MITANO KABLA YA CHAGUZI ZA MWAKA WA 2007 NA 2013

Abstract

Since the advent of multiparty politics in Kenya, language has mostly been used as a political and social weapon, with politicians embracing varied strategies that are aimed at promoting a particular interpretation of a social issue. Following a number of constitutional changes that had taken place in Kenya, it was not clear whether politicians would have been more guarded in their choice of language for fear of being prosecuted for propagating hate speech. In view of the aforementioned, this study set out to undertake a Comparative Political Discourse Analysis during presidential election campaigns five months before both 2007 and 2013 elections. The objectives of the study were to investigate different Discourse Topics during the period under investigation; the study also discussed types of politician’s political strategies during presidential election campaigns. The study also examined the impact of politician’s political discourse during presidential election campaigns. The theory that guided the study was Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA): Discourse-Historical Approach (DHA). Descriptive method of analysis within the main DHA strategies was employed. Purposeful sampling strategy (Critical case sampling) was used to collect data of politician’s reported utterances five months before 2007 and 2013 elections. The main players were; Raila Odinga, Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto because during both 2007 and 2013 elections campaign these personalities were among the most pronounced politicians who played a pivotal role during presidential campaigns. The data which was analyzed was collected from The Daily Nation and The Standard newspapers. The main Discourse Topics employed by the said politicians formed the basis of the analysis. The study found out that the general choice of discourse topics by politicians is guided by society’s most salient historical issues such as the land question and vote rigging. The study also established that politicians use selected strategies whose objective is mainly to persuade the electorate. The study found out that this political discourse had several effects on society such as re-awakening the past; with respect to tribal affiliations, elites discourse, religious discourse, and character disparagement discourse just to mention a few. The significance of this undertaking is that; language can be seen as a purveyor of social issues and therefore political situations – and language can also be seen as a driving force directed at changing politics and society. It is hoped that these findings will contribute to the field of discourse analysis; more specifically, comparative political discourse analysis. Finally, the study may inform bodies charged with responsibilities of ensuring that Kenyans’ dream of being cohesive and integrated is attained by spelling out where ‘hate speech’ starts and ends