Walk to work campaign triumphs over weak Government PR strategy
Walk to work campaign started by Activists for change (A4C) has exposed weaknesses in overall Government PR strategy. Although it's largely a political fight, NRM government still lacks a clear strategy to win without shooting its self in the foot. The walk to walk campaign has still shown the absence of a systematic coordination of information sharing in the all government structures. Every day the chief walker Dr.Besigye walks to work or tries to and is arrested, he wins goodwill and sympathy globally for his cause while the government displays unprofessionalism and brutality thereby reaping negative image.
The government has failed to study and manage the psychology of the Walk to work campaign tactics. It is not common for anyone to be arrested for walking or hooting anywhere on earth. The government has failed to devise a psychological solution to inflation and the riots.
The government communicators have decided to use Propaganda and Spin forgetting that lies cannot survive in an informed society Uganda has become. Even when facts are clear to even a kindergarten child, the government still invests in propaganda and violence to crash the voices. Government PR strategists should be thinking how do we create Goodwill towards government in such a trying time rather than hate.
The government has failed to grow with the crisis or even think ahead the Activists for Change. There is need to orient some of these security officers on how to act during a crisis. I don't think Gilbert Arinaitwe understood the effects of his violent act on Uganda's image as pearl of Africa. The government chooses to read the outside picture and unleashes violence. NRM Strategists should be thinking how to change from citizen discontent to citizen support. The respective government PR practitioners must think beyond a press conferences but activities to revive "brand Uganda" and goodwill the NRM government enjoyed immediately in 80s.
The Uganda Police which is at the centre of all the walk to walk demonstration seems it was caught unaware. There is need to change the Uganda police force name to remove force, uniforms and professional training. I have always argued that the Uganda Police Force Urgently needs rebranding. Now should be times for the police to reposition themselves as human rights defenders. They have vans but still it opts to throw suspects on double cabins
Messages issued by government are outrageous. Most of the messages are meant to intimidate citizens rather than reassure, inform or show political will. From the onset of the walk –to –work campaigns the government's responses have carried an element of insensitivity. The Government spokesperson then Kabakumba says; "There .is nothing the government can do" even if there was nothing it can do, she needed to say something else to show that there are in charge or buy more time. This reminds me of Annette, wife to French king who told masses during famine that if they cannot have bread, let them have cake too during famine. The minister says there is nothing the government can do about but the government is spending 1.7trillion on fighter jets and 2.8billion on a one day's presidential swearing in ceremony.
The Messages from government officials have continued to be inconsistent especially on the official position of government. Those at media centre should start dictating uniform official government statements for all concerned ministries to share with the media . The president Museveni justifies brutal arrest Of Besigye while senior security government officials condemned the police for brutal arrest of Besigye and other suspected rioters. Controversy and contradictions are delicious to the media. Media is simply looks for gaps in messages and stripe you bare for all to see .Why should we have top security officials condemning police's brutal arrest of Besigye while government maintains there was nothing wrong with smashing Besigye's car
The true enemies of Uganda's recovery are in Government not the media as the President argues. The former internal affairs minister Kirunda Kivejijna with background of violence is picked to speak on Besigye brutal arrest. A Competent court of Uganda found him guilty of election violence. Kivejinja issues a statement to local and international media saying "the Uganda police has powers to shot to kill". Wonder if he is aware of International human rights charters. Managing reputations will remain a major challenge for the NRM government .The government needs to notice PR's Role in building and maintaining reputations.PR has moved from spin doctoring towards the protection and nurturing reputation. Again the government will use tax payer's money to market Uganda on CNN.
There has been no or less remarks on the inflation situation by NRM historicals? Where are all these NRM historical who fought? NRM has still failed mobilize its people to appear massively on all these talk shows to share the NRM position.
Abraham Lincoln once said. "What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself". The government fails to hold positive publicity opportunities to their advantage. The government media teams persistently releases unpopular stories to the media and down plays positive ones. Police fails to glorify Alfonzo Mutabazi, formerly O.c Jinja Road police who showed desired professional image of the police by peacefully walking Otunnu to his office. The government decides to defend Bwana Arinaitwe Gilbert's inhuman acts of smashing Besigye's Car window with a pistol and redeploys Mutabazi to the Police mechanical workshop. The government therefore smears their dirt on their foreheads for all to see.
Police rushes to secretly fix Besigye's car, doesn't that still burry police image alive. Why didn't police plan a public apology and invite media along the repairing exercise as a sign of goodwill. Sometimes the goodwill needs to be made public. Such an activity during this crisis can help divert media attention.
In any crisis, someone has to take the blame to calm it. Is it hard for government to suspend or force resignations of security and finance line officers as government repositions itself as caring? The police has on number of occasions apologized and compensated victims for reckless shooting by its officers including BebeCool. Why can't the police do the same for all the riot victims? This may not work for long if the culprits within the police are not timely produced in court or punished. Government PR strategy should be beyond exonerating themselves from any wrong doing but be pillar of hope to all Ugandans. Obama gave hope to Americans during trying time of the credit crunch
May be the spokespersons will speak from an informed angle when they decide to also walk to work as they visit teargas. The locations of the press conferences should leave media centre to scenes of violence or less formal environment that is too controlled.
The governments from the word go failed to identify their key audience and keeping them happy. While Activists for change started with low class who could walk now they have changed to hoot campaign which has brought on board the general Public who can hoot or find any thing to hit. The government has only identified one audience as those from opposition. This has helped the Opposition own the court of public opinion (in taxis, schools, markets and offices) and media coverage
We all know that social media can drive more awareness quickly. Ironically the government considers blocking social networking sites like face book instead of embracing them. The media centre works with young people who write letters and commentaries but how often do they share the same information on social networking sites. How often does Media centre update its face book page or blog? Just a tweet reaches millions in seconds. The ICT ministry should direct all government institutions to join these social networking sites.
The Government PR strategists need to critically analyze the mood on the streets and draft sincere attempts to address this in their general PR strategy. Effective PR practice is arrived at if correct feedback is collected from the court of Public opinion. Hope the new cabinet will prioritise their Public Relations as some members of old cabinet were dropped.
Ivan.N.Baliboola,kampala -Uganda
