Modality in Kenya’s 2008 Post-Consultation Discourse by Margaret Nasambu Barasa, Ph.D. barasamargaret@yahoo.com Lecturer, Department of Language and Linguistics Kisii University, Kisii, Kenya Jacinta M. Ndambuki, Ph.D. jmndambuki@laikipia.ac.ke Senior Lecturer, Department of Literary and Communication Studies Laikipia University, Nyahururu, Kenya & Vicky Khasandi Telewa, Ph.D. vkhasandi@laikipia.ac.ke Senior Lecturer Department of Literary and Communication Studies Laikipia University, Nyahururu, Kenya Abstract This paper is part of a larger project whose overall aim is to investigate the discursive strategies of the principals’ in Kenya’s 2008 Coalition Government. This paper explores the ideological underpinnings of modal auxiliary verbs in the post-consultation discourse of former president Mwai Kibaki and former Prime Minister Raila Odinga. The paper demonstrates perceptibly that modal auxiliaries have the propensity to reveal the ideologies underlying political discourse. Grounded in Critical Discourse Analysis research paradigm, the analysis reveals that modal auxiliary verbs are used in the post-consultation discourse to give a message of commitment, desirability, responsibility, obligation in a strategic attempt to persuade the citizens. The modal auxiliaries are also illustrative of power struggle and hegemony as the underlying ideologies. The findings of the study bear implications for the theory of modality and discourse analytical studies on political speeches, particularly, on political negotiations in coalition governments. 4 Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.9, no.1, March 2016