Если вы планируете поездку в Гану, вот что вам нужно будет знать и ожидать, если вы хотите посетить страну во время глобальной пандемии коронавируса.
Гана давно открыта для международных рейсов, но 28 марта она наконец открыла свои сухопутные и морские границы. Все взрослые нерезиденты, не являющиеся гражданами Ганы, должны быть полностью вакцинированы, чтобы въехать в страну.
Парк Моле: уникальное место в Гане
Гана может быть благословлена одними из лучших пляжей Западной Африки, но это далеко не только место для загорания на солнце. Ее прибрежные форты предлагают неапеляция в историю работорговли, которую вели британцы с этих берегов. Бесконечный рынок Кежетия в Кумаси, на юго-западе страны, считается самым крупным в этой части континента, где продают всё: от ювелирных изделий до обуви. На севере национальный парк Моле — идеальное место для наблюдения за некоторыми из самых известных животных Африки, включая слонов, бегемотов и варанов.
Требования к въезду в Гану
Путешественники в возрасте от 18 лет и старше, не являющиеся гражданами Ганы или резидентами заграницей, должны быть полностью привиты, чтобы въехать в страну.
Граждане Ганы и резиденты заграницей, не позволенные вакцинироваться полностью, могут въехать, но действуют ограничения (см. ниже).
Процедуры и тестирование
Нерезидентные путешественники в возрасте 18 лет и старше должны быть полностью вакцинированы, чтобы въехать в страну. Им уже не нужно проходить тестирование на Covid-19.
Граждане Ганы и резиденты заграницей, не привитые полностью, могут быть вакцинированы по прибытии. В противном случае они могут пройти обязательную карантинную изоляцию в установленном правительством учреждении на семь дней за свой счет.
Они также должны иметь подтверждение отрицательного PCR-теста, взятого за 48 часов до вылета, а также пройти дополнительное антигенное тестирование по прибытии.
Цена за это составляет $50 на пассажира для граждан и граждан Экономического сообщества стран Западной Африки (ЭКОВАС) и $150 для всех остальных, результаты доступны через 30 минут. Оплата должна быть сделана онлайн до посадки на рейс в Гану.
Важная информация
Любой положительный случай при прибытии будет оценен Портовым здравоохранением для карантинной изоляции либо в правительственном лечебном учреждении, либо в центре изоляции. Стоимость обязательного семидневного пребывания должна быть покрыта пассажирами за свой счет.
Все пассажиры должны заполнить онлайн декларацию о состоянии здоровья, и им могут попросить сделать это снова на борту перед посадкой.
Заключение
Уровень: Неизвестно. Убедитесь, что вы полностью вакцинированы перед путешествием.
Ресурсы для дополнительной информации:
- Служба здравоохранения Ганы
- Министерство здравоохранения декларация о состоянии здоровья
Художник Серж Атукуэй Клоттери строит настоящую желтую дорожку в Аккре. Вот как он это делает.
Этот отчет подготовили Джо Минихейн, Джулия Бакли и Маурин ОХаре.
Вакцинованная нежелательность в Гане во время пандемии Covid-19
Связанные с кризисной коммуникацией вопросы коммуникации рисков.
Связана с кризисной коммуникацией коммуникация рисков, которая, согласно данным ВОЗ (2020b: п. 1), определяется как обмен информацией, советами и мнениями между экспертами или официальными лицами и людьми, столкнувшимися с угрозой (опасностью) для своего выживания, здоровья или экономического и социального благополучия. Она была крайне важна для уменьшения путаницы, противодействия дезинформации и развеивания недопониманий с целью построения доверия в ответ на пандемию, чтобы увеличить соблюдение медицинских рекомендаций (ВОЗ, 2021:30). Поскольку Covid-19 был объявлен пандемией, это вызвало страх, панику, небезопасность и беспомощность по всему миру (Водак, 2021:2), что требовало управления со стороны правительств и медицинских экспертов. Однако для эффективной коммуникации рисков должно существовать доверие между экспертами, людьми власти и теми, чьи жизни затрагиваются (ВОЗ, 2020b).
Роль кризисной коммуникации в исследованиях кризисов
Кризисная коммуникация была использована в качестве теоретической основы в исследованиях кризисов, таких как экономические, финансовые и природные бедствия (Селлоу и Сигер, 2021; Зампони и Бози, 2016), чтобы лучше понять эти события с целью их более эффективного управления. Беррокаль и др. (2021) утверждали, что кризисы являются дискурсивно сконструированными событиями, управление которыми зависит от понимания социокультурного и политического характера места события. Коммуникация кризиса, связанного с такими событиями, требует знания социополитического контекста, как в случае с Covid-19.
Анализ текста в ганском контексте
Наконец, в данной статье были использованы некоторые текстовые аналитические методики в рамках дискурсивно-исторического подхода (DHA) к критическим исследованиям дискурса (CDS). Ученые, занимающиеся DHA, считают, что управление кризисом и коммуникации являются социально конструированными через взаимодействие лидеров и публики как аудитории (Водак, 2021), при этом применяются стратегии легитимации для обоснования действий, выборов и политик (Харви и Котейко, 2013:139). Поскольку использование языка (или коммуникации) является важной силой в пере/формировании социальных практик (Бойд и Моначелли, 2010), DHA CDS придает приоритет вниманию к текстовым внутренним и внешним особенностям (контекст, интертекстуальность, внелингвистические и более широкие социополитические и исторические контексты) при анализе и интерпретации дискурсов (Бойд и Моначелли, 2010; Водак, 2015).
Ганская стратегия борьбы с пандемией
Ганская стратегия борьбы с пандемией ставит перед собой пять основных целей, как подчеркнуто в Протоколе #10, а именно: (i) ограничить и остановить импорт вируса, (ii) сдержать его распространение, (iii) обеспечить адекватный уход за больными, (iv) смягчить влияние вируса на социальную и экономическую жизнь, и (v) вдохновить расширение внутренних возможностей страны и углубить самостоятельность в борьбе против вируса (Президентство, 2020).
Усиленный ответ страны на пандемию Covid-19 начался в среду, 12 марта 2020 года, когда Президент Нана Аддо впервые обратился к нации относительно нового набора мер, принятых для сдерживания импорта вируса в Гану. К моменту второй речи, произнесенной 15 марта 2020 года, в Гане было подтверждено шесть случаев среди международных путешественников, и был сформирован Межминистерский комитет по ответу на коронавирус. Все общественные мероприятия, включая конференции, фестивали, политические митинги и религиозные мероприятия, были приостановлены на четыре недели. Только частные похороны, социальное мероприятие, которое обычно собирает много людей в Гане, разрешались и ограничивались только 25 человеками одновременно (в Протоколе #2, произнесенном 15 марта 2020 года). Кроме того, образовательные учреждения были бессрочно закрыты, и были приняты другие глобальные меры, такие как социальное дистанцирование, использование масок, мытье рук и использование дезинфицирующих средств. Когда количество подтвержденных случаев достигло 137 случаев в тот же месяц, все границы были закрыты, и было введено обязательное карантинирование и тестирование всех прибывающих международных путешественников. Трехнедельный частичный локдаун был объявлен для Грейтер Аккра и Кумаси Метрополитенских районов с 30 марта по 13 апреля 2020 года, и были предоставлены различные социальные интервенции (например, бесплатные обеды и вода) для смягчения последствий пандемии на жизнь граждан.
Цели и анализ
Наша цель в этом исследовании — изучить дискурсивные стратегии, которые были использованы в речах Президента Нана Аддо, обращенных к мерам правительства, принятым для снижения воздействия болезни. Это исследование направлено на вклад в понимание дискурса кризисной коммуникации и управления, включая продолжающуюся борьбу с Covid-19. Полученные результаты позволят: (1) выявить и обсудить дискурсивные стратегии в речах президента о принятых мерах и протоколах в отношении предотвращения Covid-19, представленных гражданам, и (2) проанализировать мотивацию для таких дискурсивных стратегий в речах. Более того, поскольку вакцинация является основным способом управления кризисом Covid-19, мы также рассмотрим склонность к вакцинации в Гане, отметив несколько последствий наших результатов по склонности к вакцинации. Это исследование также внесет свой вклад в понимание того, как правительства общаются и передают сообщения, адресованные национальному и глобальному управлению кризисами и бедствиями.
The questions we explore in this study are: (a) What discourse strategies did the president employ in his Covid-19 speeches to make the audience more receptive to the measures employed in the fight against the spread of the virus in Ghana? and (b) What motivated the use of such discursive approaches in the communicated messages, taking into consideration specific Ghanaian and global contexts? In answering these questions, we will highlight the underlying discourse legitimations (Wodak, 2021) used to justify government policies and Covid-19 measures and protocols.
Results
Expressions that framed the pandemic as war included enemy, combat, fight, survival, defeat, and battle, as shown in Table 1. The most frequently used expressions were fight, contain, protect life, defeat virus, and death.
Table 1 Frequency of keywords/phrases depicting Covid-19 as a war.
Full size table
By framing Covid-19 as a global war against humanity, a position was created for the government’s restrictive policies, measures, and protocols intended to safeguard the country and its citizens. Also, a discourse of abnormality was used as a cognitive mediation to prepare the minds of Ghanaians to see Covid-19 as a long war and to accept the pandemic measures, as Nana Addo stated, “Fellow Ghanaians, these are not ordinary times (Speech #2).”
With this discourse of abnormality and having declared war on the pandemic, the President established the grounds for two demands he made of the citizens in Speech #4, where he imposed lockdown restrictions on the people of the Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi areas, as quoted below.
For the next two weeks, I urge all of you, especially residents in the affected areas of Greater Accra and Greater Kumasi to be reminded every day that the frontline of the fight against the coronavirus is your front door. If you cross it, you and your family will likely be infected. So please, stay at home.
With this statement, the President was asking every citizen to take part in the fight against the pandemic by taking the right position on the battlefield. That right position was their home. The front door was the battle line dividing the two territories: a safe territory where the people would stay protected from the enemy and a dangerous territory where the enemy could attack and cause harm to the people.
In the second statement during the same speech, the President asked the citizens to accept losses in their livelihoods in the fight against an enemy who was after their lives.
According to the President, the ongoing war could cause loss of either lives or livelihoods, but the lives were more important, as they were irreplaceable.
Despite multiple representations of Covid-19 with metaphors related to battlefield (as shown above), the word war appeared only once in Speech #8 in the extract below:
In the above quote, scientific authority and expert knowledge become intertextual and interdiscursive approaches referenced to moralize adherence to preventive measures. Framing Covid-19 as a war on humanity and the Ghanaian population conveyed the message that strict measures needed to be put in place to combat, fight, and defeat the virus to save lives while protecting people and the sovereignty of the Ghanaian state.
Encouraging nationalism and patriotism
Nana Addo employed discourses of nationalism and patriotism to appeal to the citizens’ sense of belonging and loyalty to the state; hence, the need to adhere to the protocols and measures meant to contain and control the spread of the virus. A summary of our content analysis of key expressions evoking patriotism, nationalism, and solidarity is provided in Table 2. Other important expressions that entailed patriotism and solidarity included the courage of being Ghanaian and we look out for each other.
Table 2 Keywords and phrases illustrating the fight against Covid-19 as a national agenda.
On the other hand, any act(s) by individuals or institutions that discouraged the observance of the Covid-19 regulations were downgraded as “deceiving the public” or “causing fear and panic.” Such actions were branded as “not just irresponsible, careless, and illegal, but they were selfish, despicable, and unpatriotic,” as highlighted in Speech #7:
Nana Addo solicited solidarity, an important element of patriotism, among the citizens during this battle. He did so through the spirit of collectivism depicted using plural voice (i.e., the personal pronoun we and verbs expressing collective action or intent), as marked below.
We are one people, we are Ghanaians, and we stand together in joy and in times of trouble. We are a people with an exceptional history, and we are the proud promoters of the Black Star of Africa. We have all gone down together, we should all rise together. This too shall pass!! (Speech #9).
The President called the entire Ghanaian population to defend the country by speaking in a plural voice and expressing collective action or intent – stand together, go down together, rise together.
Again, the historical context of Ghana (i.e., colonialism and imperialism) was invoked to invite Ghanaians to rise to the occasion as the founding fathers of Ghana did and to embrace nationalism in the quest to save the country.
Over the course of our history as a people, we have had to overcome several trials and tribulations: slavery, imperialism, colonialism, tyranny, and dictatorship, and we have overcome them all so that, with the help of the Almighty, we are, today, building a free, independent State, a State that, despite the urgency of the crisis, is governed by democratic institutions, and respect for fundamental human rights, especially freedom of speech. (Speech #9).
The coronavirus was directly compared to slavery, imperialism, and colonialism to explicate its threat to the sovereignty of Ghana and fundamental human rights. Referencing the historical context of Ghana was strategically used to energize the citizens and justify whatever approach the government was using to win the battle against the virus.
Showing appreciation and gratitude
Another discursive strategy in the speeches was the discourse of appreciation and gratitude to Ghanaians and all frontline fighters. The appreciation expressions in Nana Ado’s speeches and their frequencies are summarized in Table 3.
Table 3 Keywords/phrases illustrating appreciation and gratitude to Ghanaians.
Tonight, I say thank you to each and every one of you law-abiding citizens. (Speech #5).
Let me express my gratitude to all of you for bearing with the government, all health workers, and members of our security services, throughout this period. (Speech # 7).
The show of appreciation was sometimes directed to a specific section of the population for their dedication to duty and selflessness, especially the frontline healthcare workers, the security services, and other government agencies. These actors became heroes of the crisis, as noted here.
I thank all our healthcare workers, the men and women of our security services, and members of the media, for the work they are doing in helping to combat the spread of the virus. (Speech #7).
By thanking and expressing gratitude to the citizens and the frontline fighters, Nana Addo positioned himself to make further requests and appeals, as in Speech #5.
So, fellow Ghanaians, I will continue, passionately, to appeal to you to observe prescribed social distancing and good personal hygiene to contain community spread.
Threatening sanctions
Table 4 Words and expressions proposing sanctions for violating Covid-19 measures.
Law enforcement, police arrest, and dealing with lawbreakers were some expressions proposing that Ghanaians and institutions refusing to observe the lockdown measures and policies would face sanctions. This message was clearly articulated in Speeches #5 and #9 in “Remember that the law enforcement agencies are going to increase their enforcement of the stay-at-home directive” (Speech #5) and “If you fall foul of the law, you will face its full rigours” (Speech #9). Also, in Speech # 10, institutions were particularly reminded of their responsibilities towards promoting the Covid-19 measures and that failure to do so could have consequences.
The expressions in Table 4 had low frequencies, possibly attributed to two reasons. First, the relevant legislation backing the Covid-19 restrictions and protocols was non-existent during the first few weeks of the outbreak in Ghana. Thus, these sanctions were not mentioned in the first three speeches. Second, exacting punitive measures was not the preferred approach to fighting the pandemic. While relevant laws were in place to prosecute people, it was politically not in the interest of the Government to show hostility to citizens in a year when the President was seeking re-election in December 2020. The government was more focused on presenting themselves as leaders who cared for and empathized with people in their time of distress. Issuing these threats was only a part of the President’s responsibility to create awareness about the existence of these laws; however, in reality, very few prosecutions took place.
Even when the security services had used brutal force on the citizens, such incidents were captured in the President’s speech using downtoners, as noted in Speech #5.
Nonetheless, the threat of sanctions constituted one discursive frame that was communicated to regulate public behavior in managing the Covid-19 crisis.
Appealing to religious values
Religion, religious events, and prophetic admonishing were referenced in the Covid-19 messages to propel action and passion toward encouraging preventive behaviors among Ghanaians. A content analysis on expressions such as Muslims, Christians, faith in God, Easter, Ramadan, and prayers, among others, produced the results in Table 5.
Table 5 Religious words and phrases used in the President’s Covid-19 speeches.
Throughout all ten speeches, religious values and morals were a significant discourse approach to delivering Covid-19 messages to Ghanaians, as shown in Table 5. Seeking refuge and protection from God against the virus was crucial; hence, a National Day of Prayer and Fasting was declared in Speech #3, as quoted.
I urge all of us also to seek the face of the Almighty. So, on Wednesday 25 March 2020, I appeal to all Ghanaians Christians, and Muslims to observe a national day of fasting and prayer. Let us pray to God to protect our nation and save us from this pandemic. I thank the men and women of God who prayed with me on Thursday and with the vice president on Friday for their intervention.
Fellow Ghanaians, just as the Christian Celebration of Easter was severely affected by the virus, resulting in the cancellation of the usual activities associated with Easter, the Holy Month of Ramadan has not been spared either. It is my understanding that in the time of the Prophet Muhammad, Sallallahu Allayhi Wa’Salam, anytime there was heavy rain, he admonished the faithful, through the Azan, to stay in their houses and pray, rather than going to the mosques. (Speech #8).
With the above authoritative scholarly text, and by juxtaposing the impact of Covid-19 on Easter, an appeal to the moral consciousness of all Muslims in Ghana was made during Ramadan. Earlier in Speech #5, Christians were admonished to let the example of Jesus Christ’s passion and sacrifice for humanity on Palm Sunday guide their festive activities and behaviors.
Discussion
This study examined the discourse strategies and motivations for their use in President Nana Addo’s Covid-19 speeches presented to Ghanaians on preventive measures to reduce transmission. The concepts of context, crisis communication theory, and framing guided the analysis and interpretation of the findings. These discursive strategies are discussed in this section as political crisis communication and management approaches concerning the Covid-19 pandemic in Ghana.
First, our study found that Covid-19 was framed as a war that needed to be fought and won. Using a discourse of war to communicate the outcome of a pandemic not only allows global and national leaders to define these events as crises but also offers political leaders strategic positions to impose drastic measures and implement critical policies, as we saw in the case of Covid-19 worldwide. The war discourse about Covid-19 was distinctively present in Speech #4, during which the President imposed lockdown restrictions. To contain the effects of the virus, messages of moral legitimation, fear, and death were communicated to justify the crisis management measures. Such messages fulfilled the primary crisis communication function of coordinating efforts, public warning and notification about impending dangers and outcomes (Sellnow & Seeger, 2021). Furthermore, using military terminology and metaphors (with several mentions of the military, security forces, and the Chief of Defense Staff) depicted Covid-19 as a national security threat, an unwanted enemy forcing its entry into the national space (Berrocal et al., 2021). As Molnar et al. (2020) argued, imagery of real-world warfare is evoked by using war and military discourses to highlight the threat’s reality. Framing Covid-19 as war became a global discourse in political speeches worldwide (Dada et al., 2021; Dong et al., 2020; Simons, 2020; Wodak, 2021). It occurred in Covid-19 banner messages in China (Dong et al., 2020), in previous pandemic crisis communication about the Avian flu, foot and mouth disease (FMD), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Ebola (Harvey and Koteyko, 2013; Nerlich and Halliday, 2007; Omoleke et al., 2016; Zinken et al., 2008).
Employing the discourse of patriotism and nationalism during a crisis and global pandemic has been a means of moralizing and a sense of citizenship legitimation strategy. Invoking the spirit of nationalism among the citizens to manage the pandemic was reinforced through country-specific historical, political, and social contexts. By using discourses of nationalism and patriotism, a sense of solidarity and in-group construction was built to respond to the crisis (Berrocal et al., 2021). Furthermore, in Nana Addo’s speech, nationalism was framed through a unified force and solidarity by using plural voice and inclusiveness through the text-internal feature of first-person plural pronominals and adjectives. Moreover, Ghana’s political history was consistently referred to, and Ghanaian values of love for one another and religiosity were all clearly messaged. This approach excited psychological power metaphorically in the citizens to act, as reported in other jurisdictions in crisis management (Dong et al., 2020; Harvey and Koteyko, 2013; Wodak, 2021). Reasoning and thinking are believed to be associated with communication; hence, crisis communication must persuade minds, actions, and behaviors to limit crisis events’ effects (Sellnow & Seeger, 2021).
In many other countries, employing discourses of patriotism and nationalism supported national identity politics (e.g., Sweden (Wodak, 2021)) in the fight against the virus. Countries construct their identities by invoking their cultural knowledge and historical context as current and past social and political events are brought to the forefront. In China, “family values and patriotic sensations” were often talked about by Chinese politicians to catch the people’s attention (Dong et al., 2020:7). Similarly, in Serbia, the country’s ability to withstand typhoid, economic sanctions, and bombing in World War I was referenced by Serbia’s leaders to ignite nationalism and patriotic feelings in the citizen to fight Covid-19 (Milutinović, 2021:1320). Despite the discourses of nationalism as a mobilizing force against the virus, Bieber (2022) reported instances of authoritarian, racialized, and exclusionary discourses in some countries that placed the blame for the virus spread on immigrants and specific racial groupings, who were portrayed as a danger to the nationalism ethos the pandemic has reinforced.
Showing appreciation and appealing to citizens, heroization of frontline healthcare workers and security agencies was another discursive strategy implemented by political leaders to manage the Covid-19 pandemic, as reported in other studies (Milutinović, 2021; Wodak, 2021). Wodak (2021) reported that the leaders in Germany and New Zealand engaged in dialogic framing and mutual trust with their citizens. For instance, it is reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany often thanked the government, regional governors, and the citizens for their efforts in saving the elderly population and the country at large (Wodak, 2021). President Nana Addo employed similar strategies to encourage Ghanaians to observe the Covid-19 protocols. Hero discourses were employed with reference to frontline healthcare workers and security services to encourage positive behaviors. However, Mohammed et al. (2021) argued that hero discourse was not a neutral expression of appreciation because it normalized the exposure to risk among frontline workers, enforced notions of model citizenships, and preserved existing power relations, thereby limiting the frontline health and other workers’ ability to demand better conditions of services.
Furthermore, our study found that Nana Addo’s government used fewer discourses of sanctions than discourses of war and appeals to patriotism and nationalism in Ghana. A similar finding has been reported by Owusu et al. (2022), who explored how the Covid-19 blame game was apportioned in Ghana. Nana Addo’s government was blamed for its relaxed approach to enforcing Covid-19 protocols (e.g., ongoing political campaigns and voter registration exercises), which was reflected in some Ghanaians accused of failing to observe social distancing guidelines (Owusu et al., 2022). We believe that not issuing sanctions could have been influenced by the political history and events in Ghana at the time, unlike in some countries in Europe, such as Hungary, where journalists and citizens could be punished by the Hungarian government for reporting inaccurate information or violating quarantine regulations respectively (Picheta and Halasz, 2020; Wodak, 2021:17). However, in Ghana, Nana Addo could not employ severe sanctions without jeopardizing his political aspirations in the pending December 2020 general elections. Moreover, although “effective warning systems are critical to protecting health and well-being of the public” during a crisis, employing brutal force and sanctions can be detrimental to effective crisis management (Sellnow and Seeger, 2021:39). Using force to communicate pandemic measures and to engage citizens in behavioral change in Nigeria affected the relationship between the Nigerian police and the populace (Aborisade, 2021). President Nana Addo thus employed fewer discourses of sanction in his speeches. Where reports of police brutalities of the citizens were referenced, downtoners were used to present those incidents as less damaging.
Another crucial discourse strategy that surfaced in our study was religious framing. Religion has often been used as a tool to foster solidarity (or not) during crises. Therefore, by using religious moral discourses through intertextual and recontextualization approaches, religious texts, quotations, and events were referenced. President Nana Addo targeted adherents of various religions in Ghana by invoking their moral obligation to protect themselves and the nation against the havoc of the pandemic. The relevance of religious beliefs, values, and institutions in natural disaster management and coping (Sohrabizadeh et al., 2018) and in managing the Covid-19 pandemic (Barmania and Reiss, 2021) has been noted in earlier research. For instance, Wodak (2021) reported that religious discourses and strict rules were combined to manage the Covid-19 pandemic crisis in Greece.
Implications for crisis management
In times of economic, political, health, and other natural crises, appealing to the citizens’ sense of national identity and patriotism holds the potential to rally the populace to act in supportive ways toward the government’s course of action. History has taught us that during severe natural disasters, citizens take pride in their national identity and will often act in solidarity and for the interests of their country (Bol et al., 2021; Esaiasson et al., 2021). Therefore, governments and political leaders can garner support in managing crises by appealing to citizens’ sense of national identity, belonging, and patriotism. In addition, using nationalism and patriotism discourse can help fight against Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy.
Furthermore, describing Covid-19 in terms of war-related metaphors potentially empowers leaders to impose undemocratic means of winning the battle or inciting fear, as reported in other studies (Molnar et al., 2020; Wodak, 2021). To reduce vaccine hesitancy, as a critical approach to managing the Covid-19 crisis, discourses of sanction must be balanced with the nationalism and patriotism framing such that the effects of the crisis and the importance of showing patriotism are emphasized more than threats of sanction. Moreover, discourses of fear, death, and militarization of the fight against the virus were used by other political leaders (Simons, 2020; Wodak, 2021). Such discourse strategies could be used to encourage vaccine uptake among citizens. For instance, Dada et al. (2021:7) found that political “leaders often balanced the use of paternalism and responsibility within a speech” and that “collectively, paternalism and responsibility were important tools of emotional rhetoric used by all leaders to motivate their citizens to adhere” to the pandemic restrictions.
Ensuring balance in the use of force and citizen responsibility is supported by strong global voices against mandatory vaccinations (Burnett, 2022). Especially in the Ghanaian context, individuals have gone to court to contest the mandatory vaccination measures that were being proposed. Citizens in several other countries, such as the United States of America, have had mass demonstrations against mandatory Covid-19 vaccination (Burnett, 2022). In countries where early mandatory vaccinations seem to work, the implementation was indirect and tied to public access to certain spaces. Even with that, citizens spoke against such measures (Burnett, 2022). For instance, in Canada, students and faculty were required to be vaccinated to access a few university campus facilities. Nonetheless, some level of resistance is expected as segments of the population can always employ human rights normative arguments against any form of restrictions on personal freedoms, no matter how minimal that is. This situation explains why ‘anti-masks,’ ‘anti-social distancing,’ and ‘anti-vaccine’ labels were profound during the pandemic’s peak (Cossard et al., 2020; Sharma et al., 2022).
Conclusion
Our aim in this paper was to identify and analyze discourse strategies in Nana Addo’s speeches delivered to Ghanaians on updates about the government’s preparedness and measures put in place to combat the coronavirus. Ten speeches by the president were analyzed through content thematic analysis, and five discourse strategies were identified as discursive constructions meant to appeal to the citizens for action. These strategies included framing Covid-19 as war and using a discourse of nationalism and patriotism to encourage patriotic behaviors. Appreciating and showing gratitude was another strategy to acknowledge frontline health workers, the security services, and the public for their support, patriotism, and adherence to the Covid-19 measures. Proposing sanctions and punitive measures for disobeying the policies and protocols put in place to prevent the spread of the virus was another approach. Lastly, expressing hope and faith in God and Allah and invoking religious moral principles to guide behavior served as another rhetoric. These discourse strategies are interpreted with reference to the concept of content, crisis communication theory, and framing as crucial discourse analytic concepts. Some implications for crisis management are offered, especially on Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy in Ghana.
This paper is limited by leaving out the analysis of the video and audio of the pandemic speeches broadcast. Future research could consider the intonation of the speeches and non-linguistic features (postures, facial expressions, gestures) and analyze more speeches by the president to identify their communicative strategies. Furthermore, code-switching from Ashanti Twi to English, which occurred in some of the speeches, could be examined to explore their communicative intent. Lastly, media reports and discussions may also contain unique discursive strategies as the Covid-19 pandemic messages are framed.
Cumulative number of COVID-19 vaccine doses administered in Ghana 2022
CharacteristicNumber of doses
Aug 10, 202219,883,528
May 18, 202214,872,174
Apr 28, 202214,228,848
Apr 12, 202214,228,848
Mar 21, 202212,043,575
Feb 15, 202212,043,575
Feb 06, 202210,015,888
Jan 18, 20229,600,792
Jan 05, 20228,848,172
Dec 14, 20213,493,688
Dec 07, 20213,493,688
Nov 29, 20213,493,688
Nov 21, 20213,367,531
Nov 03, 20212,979,766
Oct 25, 20212,727,537
Oct 18, 20212,189,552
Oct 10, 20212,189,552
Oct 03, 20211,653,422
Sep 25, 20211,643,172
Sep 14, 20211,271,393
Sep 08, 20211,271,393
Aug 31, 20211,271,393
Aug 25, 20211,271,393
Aug 18, 20211,271,393
Aug 12, 20211,271,393
Aug 11, 20211,271,393
Aug 10, 20211,271,393
Aug 09, 20211,271,393
Aug 08, 20211,271,393
Aug 07, 20211,271,393
Aug 06, 20211,271,393
Aug 05, 20211,271,393
Aug 04, 20211,271,393
Aug 03, 20211,271,393
Aug 02, 20211,271,393
Aug 01, 20211,271,393
Jul 31, 20211,271,393
Jul 30, 20211,271,393
Jul 29, 20211,271,393
Jul 28, 20211,271,393
Jul 27, 20211,271,393
Jul 26, 20211,271,393
Jul 25, 20211,271,393
Jul 24, 20211,271,393
Jul 23, 20211,271,393
Jul 22, 20211,271,393
Jul 21, 20211,271,393
Jul 20, 20211,271,393
Jul 19, 20211,271,393
Jul 18, 20211,271,393
Jul 17, 20211,271,393
Jul 16, 20211,271,393
Jul 15, 20211,265,306
Jul 14, 20211,265,306
Jul 13, 20211,265,306
Jul 12, 20211,265,306
Jul 11, 20211,261,677
Jul 10, 20211,261,677
Jul 09, 20211,261,677
Jul 08, 20211,261,677
Jul 07, 20211,261,677
Jul 06, 20211,261,677
Jul 05, 20211,261,677
Jul 04, 20211,232,876
Jul 03, 20211,232,876
Jul 02, 20211,232,876
Jul 01, 20211,232,876
Jun 30, 20211,232,876
Jun 29, 20211,232,876
Jun 28, 20211,232,876
Jun 27, 20211,232,876
Jun 26, 20211,232,876
Jun 25, 20211,232,876
Jun 24, 20211,232,876
Jun 23, 20211,232,876
Jun 22, 20211,232,876
Jun 21, 20211,232,876
Jun 20, 20211,232,876
Jun 19, 20211,228,216
Jun 18, 20211,228,216
Jun 17, 20211,228,216
Jun 16, 20211,228,216
Jun 15, 20211,228,216
Jun 14, 20211,228,216
Jun 13, 20211,228,216
Jun 12, 20211,228,216
Jun 11, 20211,228,216
Jun 10, 20211,228,216
Jun 09, 20211,228,216
Jun 08, 20211,228,216
Jun 07, 20211,228,216
Jun 06, 20211,228,216
Jun 05, 20211,228,216
Jun 04, 20211,228,216
Jun 03, 20211,228,216
Jun 02, 20211,228,216
Jun 01, 20211,228,216
May 31, 20211,228,216
May 30, 2021847,871
May 29, 2021847,871
May 28, 2021847,871
May 27, 2021847,871
May 26, 2021847,871
May 25, 2021847,871
May 24, 2021847,871
May 23, 2021852,047
May 22, 2021852,047
May 21, 2021852,047
May 20, 2021852,047
May 19, 2021852,047
May 18, 2021852,047
May 17, 2021852,047
May 16, 2021852,047
May 15, 2021852,047
May 14, 2021852,047
May 13, 2021852,047
May 12, 2021852,047
May 11, 2021849,527
May 10, 2021849,527
May 09, 2021849,527
May 08, 2021849,527
May 07, 2021849,527
May 06, 2021849,527
May 05, 2021849,527
May 04, 2021849,527
May 03, 2021849,527
May 02, 2021849,527
May 01, 2021849,527
Apr 30, 2021849,527
Apr 29, 2021846,588
Apr 28, 2021846,588
Apr 27, 2021846,588
Apr 26, 2021846,588
Apr 25, 2021842,521
Apr 24, 2021842,521
Apr 23, 2021842,521
Apr 22, 2021842,521
Apr 21, 2021842,521
Apr 20, 2021842,521
Apr 19, 2021755,686
Apr 18, 2021755,686
Apr 17, 2021755,686
Apr 16, 2021755,686
Apr 15, 2021755,686
Apr 14, 2021742,349
Apr 13, 2021742,349
Apr 12, 2021742,349
Apr 11, 2021703,752
Apr 10, 2021681,211
Apr 09, 2021681,211
Apr 08, 2021647,380
Apr 07, 2021599,128
Apr 06, 2021500,000
Apr 05, 2021500,000
Apr 04, 2021500,000
Apr 03, 2021500,000
Apr 02, 2021500,000
Apr 01, 2021500,000
Mar 31, 2021500,000
Mar 30, 2021500,000
Mar 29, 2021500,000
Mar 28, 2021500,000
Mar 27, 2021500,000
Mar 26, 2021500,000
Mar 25, 2021500,000
Mar 24, 2021500,000
Mar 23, 2021420,000
Mar 22, 2021420,000
Mar 21, 2021420,000
Mar 20, 2021420,000
Mar 19, 2021420,000
Mar 18, 2021420,000
Mar 17, 2021300,000
Mar 16, 2021300,000
Mar 15, 2021300,000
Mar 14, 2021300,000
Mar 13, 2021300,000
Mar 12, 2021300,000
Mar 11, 2021300,000
Mar 10, 2021300,000
Mar 09, 2021202,252
Mar 08, 2021202,252
Mar 07, 20210
Mar 06, 20210
Mar 05, 20210
Mar 04, 20210
Mar 03, 20210
Mar 02, 20210
Mar 01, 20210
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