The Metaphoricity of Corruption: Exploring Ghana's Electoral Manifestos under the Fourth Republic

Abstract

This study investigated the metaphoricity of the noun “corruption” in the manifestos of Ghana’s two leading parties: the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC). The study explored how metaphors have shaped the political narrative on corruption from 1996 to 2024 through the use of Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). Data on the word corruption from 14 manifestos were analysed for its metaphorical expressions based on the imprints of the preceding verb and other collocates. The findings revealed that corruption is metaphorically framed as war, disease, bushfire, business, and commodity. Opposition parties used these metaphors more frequently to critique incumbent governments and influence voters. The study highlights the strategic use of metaphors in shaping public perceptions of corruption, suggesting that metaphorical language serves as a powerful rhetorical tool in political discourse that influences electoral outcomes and governance narratives. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on political discourse by demonstrating how metaphorical language shapes the public’s perception of corruption.

Keywords

• corruption
• ghana
• manifesto
• metaphor
• ndc
• npp