Rhetorical Empathy in Ghanaian Presidential Communication During the COVID-19 Health Crisis

African leaders are often accused of being insensitive to the struggles of their citizenry. The COVID-19 health crisis was, thus, seen as an opportunity to transform the dynamics of political communication on the continent. Yet although one of the African leaders, Ghana’s president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in particular, received plaudits for successfully managing the COVID-19 pandemic in his country, how he communicated empathetically to the nation in managing the crisis has received little scholarly inquiry. Based on a grounded theory approach, this study discovered five main rhetorical strategies deployed by President Akufo-Addo for tackling the crisis head on and for managing the anxieties of the Ghanaian people. The study has implications for enriching the nature of presidential crisis communication in Africa’s democratic architecture.