Presidential Denial in Crisis

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) required all nations to implement mitigation measures against the COVID-19 pandemic. In Tanzania, however, certain political discourses diverged from these global guidelines. This study investigates discursive actions of denial in order to understand how delegitimation is enacted during a crisis. Specifically, it examines the strategies employed by President John Pombe Magufuli to deny the presence and severity of COVID-19 in Tanzania. Two speeches delivered on April 22 and May 3, 2020 were purposively selected from the Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC) and analysed using Van Leeuwen’s (2008) legitimation framework. The findings reveal that Magufuli drew on personal authority, instrumental rationality, experiential rationality, and evaluative strategies to delegitimise lockdowns, the use of Western masks, social distancing, and the public reporting of cases and deaths. These results suggest that political leaders may deploy discourse as an instrument of power, knowledge, experience, rationality, and social norms to advance denialist positions that reflect their preferred crisis management approaches. Further research is recommended to deepen understanding of delegitimation practices in political discourse during health crises