Lexical Choices in Police Vetting Exercise in Kenya: How Framing Is Used to Account for the Lexical Choices Made by Police Officers During the Vetting Exercise

This paper applies frame analysis approach to interrogate the lexical choices in suspected corrupt practices during the police vetting exercise in Kenya in 2014-2016. The framing theory was used in interpreting what was going on in the police conduct as investigated by the vetting panel. The main focus of this paper was to explain how framing theory informs the lexical choices made by some police officers as they answered to allegations of corruption. The study carried out an in-depth analysis on how Goffman’s frame analysis can be used to appropriately interpret police conduct as brought out during the vetting exercise. The researcher used secondary data from online sources and recorded video clips. The study purposively selected fifteen vetting interviews that were felt to be containing the lexical items that answer to the objectives of the study. These interviews were mainly concerned with financial probity of the various police officers especially in regard to their mobile money transfers. The results of the study revealed that word choices play a crucial role in strategically communicating what the intentions of the speaker. The appropriate interpretation of these lexical items is arrived at by applying primary frameworks which act as the lens through which the listeners can appropriate meaning to what is happening in every day’s social activities.