The ‘Covid-19 presidential genre’

Abstract

This chapter examines the presidential addresses delivered by the Ugandan president during the Covid-19 lockdown. It invokes genre analysis to examine the nature of the rhetorical moves that characterised the Presidential statements. It also employs critical discourse analysis to examine the linguistic devices that the president invoked during the addresses. Focusing on the extempore narrative episodes emanating from 20 presidential addresses, the chapter explicates the nature of utterances (rebukes, warnings and reassurances) the President made. It demonstrates how the President not only invoked the war rhetoric, metaphors, and proverbs to sustain the attention of his audience but also to explain the science of the new pandemic, justify the continued lockdown and other restrictive measures, and rally support from the citizens.