November had more crises that attracted more public outcry. This article looks at these crises solely for education purposes.
1. Leaked nude pictures of Desire luzinda and her arrest over a debt.
Singer Desire Luzinda was humiliated when she was picked by court bailiffs and dragged to Kampala High Court over an unpaid debt. During the same period, her nude photos were leaked allegedly by her ex-Boyfriend. Her leaked nude pictures took centre stage. Some critics called it a publicity stunt to promote her career. Nudity is unacceptable in African culture. Police and the Ethics ministers have since weighed in on the matter.
Nothing would calm the crisis except ignoring it and giving it time. There was nothing that would divert media attention. Nudes had already gone viral. In one of the nude pictures, she posed with an inverted victory sign which just prolonged the crisis. People especially celebrities posed the same way and re-posted hilariously. It was wrong for her to apologise and talk about the incident in the public. Her apology did not achieve much. She did something with her career when it was too late. She released two songs. This should have been also the time to do concerts.
2. KCCA car kills 2-year-old in KCCA premise.
This is a major and inexcusable tragedy.KCCA did not quickly act when it should have thereby losing control of media coverage. This could have been a strictly one-day PR disaster. KCCA PR Machinery failed to grow with the Crisis from the word go. The Handover of burial material support items was not professionally done which affected KCCA brand.
The KCCA weakness offered politicians an opportunity to take advantage of the sad to suit their objectives. No drastic moves with proper steps in line with the KCCA’s’ mission and values were done to protect the KCCA brand. KCCA never stated their values like Excellence nor did they explain training and discipline mechanism of its staff.
3. UWA ivory theft scandal.
A local daily reported about Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) missing ivory worth 3billion from its strong room.UWA rushed to issue a public notice but the content did not explain or deny the mentioned scandal.UWA head Dr. Andrew Sseguya has since been suspended to pave way for investigations though he maintains he is on leave. This was a commendable PR move by the Tourism Ministry, government and UWA board of Trustees.
4. MTN poor services
MTN Uganda admitted that their data service had faced some challenges for a specific period of time.. Some happy MTN customers went to twitter decampaigning the brand by rolling out drop your MTN line move. There were also social media rumours of preparations for a protest match against the telecom giant. The attacks on Twitter were under the hashtag#OccupyMTN demanding better services.MTN Uganda PR machinery moved first to organise an abrupt press conference which help release uniform messages. The MTN C.E.O Gouldie apologised, and communicated the official course of action.
MTN has since started the process to refund its customers all the credit which is goodwill.MTN is known for a robust social media customer care team that is swift and responsive. On the same day of the MTN press conference, a competitor British telecom firm Vodafone also announced its partnership with Afrimax to offer voice and data services in the country.
5. Margaret Zziwa suspended as speaker of EALA
The East African Legislative Assembly(EALA) suspended its speaker Margaret Nantongo Zziwa allegedly over incompetence and disrespect for 21 days.This soiled both Uganda's image and reputation for women leaders.Margaret Nantongo Zziwa was the first woman Speaker for the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA).This crisis needs faster action on her part since her troubles have not just started.Right from the day she was elected speaker of the East African Legislative Assembly (Eala),Ms Margaret Zziwa has not had a joy-ride. Early resignation in public interest will mean honour but late censure will be more damaging.Hon.Zziwa has since issued statements trading accusations rather than patching up her damaged reputation.She alleges rivalry and intrigue. This is the time to form alliances to play her cards.
6. NKumba University strike.
Nkumba university students striked over alleged university management's decision to increase selected fees. The strike dented institution's image and sent a bad message to future employers. The university issued a public notice in Newspapers dispelling reasons fronted by students for the strike. Another Public notice has been issued communicating penalties for all students following the strike asking them to pay for damages.
Did the public relations machinery of the university act appropriately prior to the strike? Strikes may arise if the right change management tools are not applied prior. All new strategies must be rolled out with more expectation management tactics. It’s hard to strike a balance between quality education and low fees. The cost of providing education will always increase but beneficiaries are determined to resist increments. There must be something Nkumba University needs to do. Other private institutions are doing the same and you never hear a strike. There are PR strategies to slowly introduce changes without causing resistance.
7. Warid ordered to pay Shs60million to obsessions over song copyright infringement.
The Commercial Division of the High Court ordered defunct telecom company Warid, now part of Airtel, to pay Shs60 million to Obsessions Music Group for illegally using its music content as caller tunes. This was no doubt a reputation damaging case to Warid.Court observed that Warid Telecom had infringed on the copy right of the group's music when it converted and sold it to mobile phone users as caller tunes. arid had, however, in its defence said it had lawfully obtained the right to use the songs
8. Urban TV scoop on scoop pastime presenters disappointments.
Urban TV's Mary Luswata went on leave and invited whoever could sit for her to turn up for auditions. Some show fans have gone to social media to express their displeasure with those who were standing in for her. Vision group seems didn't audition for quality presenters. It is a crisis since viewers may leave a show just because the current people do not measure with Luswata's expertise, humour and command of spoken English.
Ivan .N.Baliboola
PR and Organization diagnosis specialist
The author has worked with some of the most well-known and influential East African brands in construction, healthcare, Insurance, cosmetics, and banking. He carries a wealth of experience in marketing, Public relations, crisis management, and social media. He is a proud Award winner of a prestigious Public Relations Association of Uganda excellence award. He has volunteered his life to addressing environment and health related causes. He is also a blogger, professional critic, and strategist.
nbaliboola@gmail.com
Disclaimer
This article strictly offers academic insight meant to create awareness about crisis PR communication management. Therefore it should be used for educational purposes and not viewed as an attack on institutions or individuals. It offers a professional PR insight into Crisis management in Uganda which is still a young profession. I hope that Lessons shared can better the PR fraternity in Uganda. I commend the inclusion of Best Crisis Management Award category in the PRAU Excellence Awards. PR Practitioners need to be fully involved in crises from the start. The writer assumes no responsibility for contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein.
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