PR is relatively a new profession world over but we saw different organization manage their crises head on. More PR agencies and organizations are seriously taking up crisis management as a pivotal function. Uganda’s PR fraternity witnessed extraordinary crises last year. These PR crises dominated international and local media.
UCU sex-video scandal
2013 was a year of leaked sex tapes and celebrity nude pictures .Uganda Christian University (UCU) was in a media scandal involving two students who shot a sex video.UCU’s director of Student Affairs, Rev Milton Tweheyo publically apologized and confirmed that the two male students featured in the video were indeed UCU students except the lady. UCU did the right thing of forgiving the students and setting the record straight. Denying the incident would instead prolong the crisis. Expulsion has never helped people reform.Though UCU offered counselling and forgiveness to students, it condemned fornication. The story teaches us about the power of social media especially whatsapp,Youtube, and Facebook.
Royal divorce
End of princess Komuntale and Christopher Thomas’ marriage in October. Lots of counter attacks were shared on Facebook and in traditional Media within the county and the world over .Princess Komuntale accused Chris of domestic violence and unfaithfulness. The Princess did not withhold any information and she utilized social media to share her side of the story that yielded support and goodwill from the Public. If she remained silent then the crisis would may be a favourite negative media story. Media wants nothing but the truth.Chris later on apologized to the princess but it never yielded any public mercy.
Suspension of Fr Musaala by the Catholic Church.
Archbishop of Kampala Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga suspended Fr. Anthony Musaala, who authored a document criticising Catholic Church colleagues in Uganda, accusing them of sexual crimes among others. Mismanagement of Fr. Musaala‘s saga by Catholic Church put it in the media spotlight. The Archbishop was quick to suspend and give explanations without assessing the magnitude of the crisis. The Catholic Church prolonged the crisis when they over reacted. Fr Musaala would just be transferred to another place or a commission of inquiry publicly instituted.And going public about the move was wrong. As Christians who preach forgiveness, the idea of peace talks would be good. All efforts should always be done to stop crises from growing. It was a delicate time especially that the new Pope was just settling in. According to the Archbishop Dr Cyprian Lwanga,Fr. Musaala was suspended for the document, which “damages the good morals of the Catholic believers and faults the church teaching”. Fr. Musaala admitted to authoring the document which widely circulated on the internet after being leaked.The saga also attracted enough media attention. Fr Musala was hosted on highly rated TV shows and made it to the front page of daily Newspapers.
Police torture of Ex-Mukwano worker Kassim Suuna.
Ex-Mukwano worker Mr Kassim Ssuuna was allegedly assaulted by police officers while he was protesting in front of Mukwano factory in Kampala. The incident attracted media attention and went viral online. The incident faulted the Uganda Police force on its human rights record and general operations. The Uganda police should be credited for setting up a an investigation to probe the officers expeditiously and have them go through the disciplinary process. The crisis highlighted the weak civil society in Uganda since there was no serious action by labour unions.Mukwano faulted on goodwill to an extent. The company could have publicly thanked Mr Suuna for his services before he was dismissed over indiscipline as a way of redirecting media attention. They did not also highlight their milestones especially CSR. Though Smart Mukwano team activated their PR tactics a little bit late, it helped clean their image. Releasing detailed information would always work against you in court of Public opinion. Good PR is communicating what the public needs to hear instead of what they want to hear. The public always reacts to a crisis based on emotions while supporting little David against Goliath which is not the case with the normal courts of law.
Alleged gang rape act by Yuasa Employees
A 23-year-old woman was allegedly gang-raped and sodomised by five Pakistan nationals working with Yuasa.There have media reports about her being abandoned by some NGO. Government also tightened grip on work permits following Yuasa employee alleged misconduct incident. There was an apology from The Pakistani community to Ugandans for the alleged act and they also agreed to compensate her and clear medical bills. These acts were crucial in building goodwill. We saw growth of advocacy PR as women activists demonstrated outside the Yuasa Investment premises demanding its closure till all suspects were arrested and produced in court. Some suspects have since be produced in court. The Incident also shows the increasing power of the media.
Police probed Red Cross boss over smuggling
Police probed Red Cross boss over tax evasion. Uganda Red cross Society secretary General Micheal Nataka lost his Job over the incident.URA and police raided Nataka’s residence in Munyonyo seizing suspected contraband goods worth sh 800m.Integrity and goodwill of Red Cross was restored when he was replaced.
Uganda journalists Association election flop over irregularities
Elections to choose a new executive committee for Ugandan Journalists Association flopped last year after members complained about a bloated voter’s register and stolen electoral materials. The incident renews the critical debate on professional standards for journalists. It is embarrassing to have society watchdogs who are supposed to oversee morals engage in physical fighting. Some candidates agreed to pull out of an election they suspected was marred with irregularities.
Youth minister was quoted to have allegedly endorsed rape of victims with revealing clothes.
A Local daily Newspaper ran a story titled “Indecent rape victims to blame” in which it quoted comments attributed to the Youth State Minister. As a result of the story, the minister was summoned to make a statement on the floor of Parliament in which he faulted the newspaper. This controversial statement caused a public outcry and some critics asked him to resign. A local daily also reported that he had opened up a Twitter account to manage the PR crisis. Opinion leaders like Dr Norbert Mao joined the critical side in an article. Youth Minister Kiwanuka openly came out to deny the statement and clear his name which was a good thing. To set the record straight, a local daily newspaper decided to upload the audio recording of the minister’s remarks made in Ntungamo on their website.
Woman dies at IHK under unclear circumstances.
A senior Parliament employee, Remmie Wamala Nanono, passed on under questionable circumstances at IHK.This crisis provoked a debate in parliament .MPs agreed to set up an ad hoc committee to inquire into the operations of private health service providers. Wamala’s close relatives quoted in one local Newspaper say her death should have been avoided had the hospital authorities taken an urgent decision to operate her since her cervix had opened up to four centimeters, not wide enough to allow for normal delivery. Ministry of Health was also tasked to commission a study on the status of maternal health in the country for the purposes of addressing the current challenges of maternal mortality.IHK rushed to release a statement which was a bit insensitive in the court of public opinion.
Irene Namubiru’s arrest in Japan over illegal drugs
Namubiru was arrested at Naita Airport Japan after her luggage was found with illicit drugs. she claimed that she had no idea about what was in the luggage.Irene was scheduled to perform in Japan. It remains a PR scandal though most Ugandans felt Irene Namubiru was a victim of a set up. All events were confirmed by Interpol officials in Uganda. Some bloggers shared a theory portraying it as a PR stunt as a build up to her upcoming album launch. This is a negative dent on her image. There will always be online negative search results about her regarding event. Colleagues and relatives organized a church service to pray for. This was a good PR tactic tool utilising the court of Public Opinion. Namubiru tweeted after her release and date of return. She had a hero’s welcome in Uganda. This is still an ongoing crisis. Irene’s manager then Thadeus Mubiru has since made a public apology over the same. Kim Tumwesigye was arrested by the police over the scandal. Irene struggles on to save her image.
Media siege by Uganda police
The Uganda Police obtained a search warrant authorizing the search of the Daily Monitor and Red pepper premises for the letter allegedly written by General Sejjusa. Uganda police closed Red pepper and Daily monitor together with two radio stations after declaring them crime scenes.The Uganda Police responded with excessive force which attracted unnecessary attention. Most East African Newspapers carried an editorial on the incident. The incident dented the Ugandan image locally, regionally and internationally. Most critics think the government should have handled the media issue better. International and regional newspapers, US Embassy in Uganda, Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU), politicians, human rights activists, and members of the civil society condemned the incident. The most famous hash tag was ‘#mediasiege’. On May 30, 2013, Media houses were allowed to resume operations. Daily monitor’s reopening was allegedly after negotiations with government according to a government statement. This introduced a debate on future compromised editorial policy of the Daily Monitor. Monitor publications responded to the issue in public notices “Monitor: What we agreed with government” reassuring the public about their editorial policy of publishing all news as long as it is in public interest.
Nince Henry sues Nakumatt over pirated music
The Police and court bailiffs seized merchandise over illegal sale of music. The artiste insisted he had never released the album nor given permission to Nakumatt to sell his music. It was also alleged that the supermarket had been running a promotion where, whoever buys a Hisense Plasma screen takes home the singer’s CD for free. The album on display was titled ‘Omukyala bamukwata Mpola’, which was a wrong title as the correct one is Mpola Mpola according to Nince Henry. The artiste has since opened a case against Nakumatt and X-Zone International. It projected the regional supermarket in a negative way.
Emin Pasha fined 20m for noise pollution
Emin Pasha Hospital was in the media for the wrong reasons. It was fined for noise pollution. This was a dent on her image as a tourist destination in one way or another.
Conclusion
Uganda has seen increased power of pressure groups and the media expansion. Best proactive PR Crisis management requires daily media monitoring for crises. With bad news, the best move is to own up and apologise if possible. The sooner the better. This may give you more control of media coverage. Remember PR takes time and requires a clear strategy.PR Practitioners need to stop leaving organisational Crisis management tasks to only their legal and operation departments, they should fully be involved in every step.I commend the inclusion of Best Crisis Management Award category in the Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) annual Excellence Awards. This has created a greater understanding of crisis management.
Ivan .N.Baliboola
PR & Online engager
