Top seven Ugandan Blunders for May 2013

This month the institution of Parliament featured with lots of crises. This month we witnessed different organizations doing something about their crises. Outstanding advocacy PR tools were used during the closure of Monitor publications which is commendable. They used the courts of law and the Court   of Public opinion to their advantage. They shared the uncertain future of children who benefited from Monitor scholarships.

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. East African Newspapers carried an editorial on media siege. The media siege 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 media siege. The most famous hash tag was ‘#mediasierge’. Uganda police ignored a court order instructing them to vacate monitor premises. Police found this to be highly irregular. On May 30, 2013, Media houses were allowed to resume operations. Daily monitor’s reopening following 11 days of police siege 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 has since 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.

IGG opened  fresh investigations at NSSF

The Inspector General of Government started wide ranging investigations into National Social Security Fund over allegations of fraud and corruption by a whistle blower. Some allegations relate to alleged irregular Umeme Shares purchase, disposal of Land at Namirembe, joint venture with SBI for planned housing estate at Lubowa among other concerns. This is a heavy blow to the fund manager at a time when it has embarked on a rigorous re-branding exercise. NSSF is not new to funds mismanagement scandals. Scandals at NSSF have in the past resulted into sacking and prosecution of former top leaders. NSSF has since embraced good PR tools to set the record straight by responding to the allegations. Employees are yet to witness the renewed promise by the new NSSF.

Expelled  NRM  MPs VS NRM

The Speaker of parliament Speaker Rebecca Kadaga ruled that the four expelled NRM rebel MPs cannot lose their seats. NRM Secretary General, Mr Amama Mbabazi had demanded the speaker to declare the MPs’ seats vacant after their expulsion from NRM.NRM has since registered   aspirants for the posts in case they fell vacant. The matter of rebel Mps has since gone to court. This has yielded to grounds. This follows a case in court relating to the expelled MPs.

Alleged forgery of the final KCCA petition recommendation report.

The report was presented to Parliament with ten out of 17 members on the committee signing it. The report followed a petition on alleged mismanagement of KCCA to parliament through Hon. Betty Namboze Bakireke (DP, Mukono Municipality). The report recommends that President Yoweri Museveni takes over the executive functions of KCCA for six months. Members on the Committee of Public Service and Local Government raised doubts over its authenticity. The committee Chairperson and her deputy are said to have locked out the Clerk out of the parliament as the concluded with the report. The local government committee had a stormy meeting which ended prematurely with members exchanging bitter words. This was also aired on some local Televisions. Improper conduct of some members of parliament projected the institution negatively. The Deputy Speaker of parliament Jacob Oulanyah ruled that the office of the Clerk investigates the authenticity of the KCCA.KCCA report forgery allegations is a dent on the integrity of parliament.

Missing Uganda diplomatic passports

Police started a hunt to recover at least 200 diplomatic passports suspected to have gone missing from the Directorate of Citizenship and Immigration Control. The Deputy Police Spokesperson, Mr Patrick Onyango, said the diplomatic passports had already been made but the only procedure not done was the placing of names and photographs of the bearers and their titles. Some officials from Immigration were arrested as investigations   into circumstances under which the passports went missing continue. There are several Ugandans holding diplomatic passports illegally who are facing criminal charges abroad. This has been an embarrassment to Uganda. Former junior minister was allegedly arrested in India with a diplomatic passport. The Immigration passport department has released press statements declaring their position on the same which is recommendable.

Irene Namubiru 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 she was given to deliver. 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 dot on her image. There will always be online negative search results about her. 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.

Judge Choudry Vs  Judge Yorokamu Bamwine

There has been an exchange of attacks between High Court judge Anup Singh Choudry and the Principal Judge, Yorokamu Bamwine. Judge Yorokamu Bamwine kicked out Judge Singh Choudry from his chambers. On March 28, 2013; Chouldry delivered a judgment in the case ordered the partners in the firm to pay shs 37b in damages. Uganda law society petitioned against his appointment in 2012.Chouldry was discontinued from practicing law in England after his firm reportedly got in trouble and was subsequently closed in 2001. Some people believe that Chouldry slapped the hefty award on the lawyers to hit at Uganda law society for questioning his eligibility. Critics feel the two judges would have opted for appropriate forums to talk peace.

Ivan N. Baliboola 

The author has worked with some of the most well-known and influential East African brands, conducting marketing, Public relations, strategies, crisis management, and social media. He is a proud Award winner of the prestigious Public Relations Association of Uganda excellence Awards. He has volunteered his life to addressing environment and health related causes. He is also a blogger, professional critic, and strategist.

nbaliboola@gmail.com

Blog: http://mediasurgeon.blogspot.com/

Top four Ugandan PR disasters - March 2013

PR is relatively a new profession in Uganda and as such people tend to relate it to propaganda. Few agencies and organisation have taken crisis management as a pivotal role of PR seriously. This list is not aimed at attacking individuals and organisation. It offers a professional PR insight into Crisis management in Uganda. 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 stop leaving entire Crisis management to the legal departments. They should fully be involved.

1. 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 but not sacking him. 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 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 Fr. Musaala’s letter sparked public debate concerning celibacy in the Catholic Church. The saga also attracted enough media attention. He was hosted on highly rated shows and made it to the front page of daily Newspapers.

2.         Tullow oil‘s alleged bribe to President Museveni 

It was alleged that Tullow considered bribing President Museveni with $50million ahead of the 2011 elections. After several media reports, President Museveni issued a directive through his lawyers’ instructing Tullow Oil to respond within three days to the allegations. The story was an embarrassment to the president who is the fountain of honour. Tullow Oil later refuted bribery allegations and apologized to President Museveni. Tullow’s response was restricted because this court case against Heritage was still on-going. President Museveni has since instructed police to probe Oil bribery allegations made in a London court.

3.         Tullow pays expatriate Shs9m daily for a year

Tullow Uganda paid a one-man consultancy firm about Shs9 million per day for one year to teach its officials about “organizational effectiveness”, an investigation by a local newspaper revealed. Tullow Oil says the cost was borne by the group, critics say ‘organizational effectiveness’ could have been taught by local consultants. The claims highlight the lack of goodwill because a lot of the expenses incurred by oil companies fall under “recoverable costs” that the oil companies will claim back from Uganda when the oil revenue starts flowing in. The report  points  to  an old concern of     transparency in the Oil sector.

4.         Uganda court rules against Hima Cement 

On March 26, Justice Eldad Mwangusya took away Hima’s mining rights to limestone deposits in Kasese, western Uganda. The ruling affected its image and operations in a number of ways. The ruling invalidated all transactions and legal rights because Hima does not have a legal basis to carry out business in the country. East Africa Gold Sniffing was contesting a decision by the Ministry of Energy that restored Hima’s mining rights after the latter managed to secure an exploration license over the same area. Hima Cement went back to court and appealed against the ruling requesting for stay of execution.

Ivan N. Baliboola 

The author has worked with some of the most well-known and influential East African brands, conducting marketing, Public relations, strategies, crisis management, and social media. He is a proud Award winner of the prestigious Public Relations Association of Uganda excellence Awards. He has volunteered his life to addressing environment and health related causes. He is also a blogger, professional critic, and strategist.

nbaliboola@gmail.com

Top four Ugandan PR disasters - March 2013

PR is relatively a new profession in Uganda and as such people tend to relate it to propaganda. Few agencies and organisation have taken crisis management as a pivotal role of PR seriously. This list is not aimed at attacking individuals and organisation. It offers a professional PR insight into Crisis management in Uganda. 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 stop leaving Crisis management to the legal departments. They should fully be involved.

1. Suspension of Fr Musaala by the Catholic Church.

Archbishop of Kampala Dr. Cyprian Kizito Lwanga suspended Fr. Anthony Musaala, who authored a document criticising his 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 but not sacking him. 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 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. Fr. Musaala’s letter sparked public debate concerning celibacy in the Catholic Church. The saga also attracted enough media attention. He was hosted on highly rated shows and made it to the front page of daily Newspapers.

2.         Tullow oil‘s alleged bribe to President Museveni 

It was alleged that Tullow considered bribing President Museveni with $50million ahead of the 2011 elections. After several media reports, President Museveni issued a directive through his lawyers’ instructing Tullow Oil to respond within three days to the allegations. The story was an embarrassment to the president who is the fountain of honour. Tullow Oil later refuted bribery allegations and apologized to President Museveni. Tullow’s response was restricted because this court case against Heritage was still on-going. President Museveni has since instructed police to probe Oil bribery allegations made in a London court.

3.         Tullow pays expatriate Shs9m daily for a year

Tullow Uganda paid a one-man consultancy firm about Shs9 million per day for one year to teach its officials about “organizational effectiveness”, an investigation by a local newspaper revealed. Tullow Oil says the cost was borne by the Tullow group. Critics say ‘organizational effectiveness’ could have been taught by local consultants. The claims highlight the lack of goodwill because a lot of the expenses incurred by oil companies fall under “recoverable costs” that the oil companies can claim back from Uganda when the oil revenue starts flowing in. The report points  to  an old concern of     transparency in the Oil sector.

4.         Uganda court rules against Hima Cement 

On March 26, Justice Eldad Mwangusya took away Hima’s mining rights to limestone deposits in Kasese, western Uganda. The ruling affected its image and operations in a number of ways. The ruling invalidated all transactions and legal rights because Hima does not have a legal basis to carry out business in the country. East Africa Gold Sniffing was contesting a decision by the Ministry of Energy that restored Hima’s mining rights after the latter managed to secure an exploration license over the same area. Hima Cement went back to court and appealed against the ruling requesting for stay of execution.

Ivan N. Baliboola 

The author has worked with some of the most well-known and influential East African brands, conducting marketing, Public relations, strategies, crisis management, and social media. He is a proud Award winner of the prestigious Public Relations Association of Uganda excellence Awards. He has volunteered his life to addressing environment and health related causes. He is also a blogger, professional critic, and strategist.

nbaliboola@gmail.com

When a man is heartbroken or rejected. #mediasurgeon

A man covers up, never fights back, and forgets that a heart break happened. women who are softhearted. A woman will tell friends and all those who care to listen about their heartbreak. She also goes the extra mile of showing evidence of her heart break like mail, pictures or even a letter.

A man simply moves on immediately.Surely he may see someone else just after thirty minutes of the heart break.Few men attach emotions to heartbreaks.

With men, a hurting time is their time to show potential and face up the challenge. It's rare to find a man talking about a heart break over and over with his peers. Its weak jazz to even open up about heartbreak. By the time a man is hurt, he is thinking of plan B but a woman will still have difficulty coping with the situation and moving on.

Words and image by

Ivan N. Baliboola 

The author has worked with some of the most well-known and influential East African brands, conducting marketing, Public relations, strategies, crisis management, and social media. He is a proud Award winner of the prestigious Public Relations Association of Uganda excellence Awards. He has volunteered his life to addressing environment and health related causes. He is also a blogger, professional critic, and strategist.

nbaliboola@gmail.com

Top five Ugandan PR scandals for April 2013

UMI directors thrown out   of office by court.

The High court threw out two directors of Uganda Management Institute (UMI) ,citing lack of requisite academic papers. Judge Elizabeth Musoke, of the Kampala Civil division, ruled that the appointment of Kasozi Mulindwa as Director Programmes and Student Affairs (DPSA) and that of Deo Lukonji Bbosa as Director Finance and Administration (DFA) was riddled with procedural impropriety. This   was a dent to the good image of institution which is known for teaching professionals in the country.

Kyambogo university tuition scandal

What started as a tuition crisis spilled into a strike which left at least one student injured. Students protested against blacklisted by the university administration for failure to pay tuition last academic year. Management alleged that the students forged documents such as receipts and examination cards to illegally sit exams. Police instituted a probe which revealed more rot at the ten year old university. There have been several arrests and interrogation of senior management staff in connection with the scandals at the institution.IGG picked interest in the case and started investigating. Kyambogo University has been a nursery bed for scandals for some time. This is beyond heated in-house wrangles. Chaos continuing to manifesto even after the Vice Chancellor, Prof Isaiah Ndiege is on forced leave  points to a deeper problem that needs urgent interventions. Kyambogo University was also in the media over poor sanitation.

President Museveni and his sack money

The two major Newspapers carried a picture of the Busoga Youth Forum chairperson, Mr Sanon Bwire, carrying a sack reportedly containing Shs250 million which President Museveni had donated to the group. The action was a fulfillment of presidential pledge but Critics argued that it was a manipulative move by the president. Social critics disagree with the action because it breeds a culture that only encourages laziness. The story showed Lack of goodwill on the side of government regarding its priorities. Some people are suffering because there are no drugs in health centres   and the government claims that there is no money. Pressure from the civil society upgraded this act to a crisis phase two. There were media reports that the youth in Sembabule District used the case to ask for their share as well. The act reflected President’s lack of faith in systems that are meant to deliver services in the country. Museveni was also faulted by activists for not following the set-out procedures of fulfilling presidential pledges. The act was a bad PR stunt for the president though it was a good strategy to show continuity with NRM even beyond 2016. Money in a sack portrayed the disrespect for accountability and responsible spending. Some officials have since been arrested over embezzlement 0f part of the money that was donated to the youth.

Former minster Musumba and Igara East MP held over extortion in India.

Former regional minister Isaac Musumba and a businessman Yakuba Mathai were  held  in India for allegedly trying to extort US$20 million from four directors of electronics giant Videocon. The crisis deepened when Musumba still possessed a diplomatic passport even when he was no longer a minister which dented Uganda’s international image. Musumba and the colleagues claim that Videocon had invested in a mining business in Uganda in 2009, but the four directors suddenly wrapped up the business within six months, signed a memorandum of understanding with the partner and left the country, duping several investors.

Coca Cola sues Riham over trademark infringement

Coca Cola has sued Riham on allegations of trademark infringement. The suit [CS 213] filed on April 24  seeks for an injunction restricting Riham from further infringement on Coca Cola brand contents, and shelving all products on the market which are purportedly considered as infringements. The law suits impacts negatively on the reputation of Riham soda. Both brands Riham Cola and Coca Cola products are said to possess similarities in relation to brand colours, packaging, content, and names among others. The injunction also seeks to stop Riham from producing products that are confusingly similar to Coca Cola. Riham has since launched another product despite the law suit. The Riham Cola soda bottle has since gone through remodifictaion.

Conclusion

With bad news, the best move is to own up and apologise. The sooner the better. This gives you more control of media coverage, and lessened the sting of media.Come clean and get past it. Monitoring media for crises is very important. Companies should review media for crises on a daily basis to plan for any latest developments and deal with them.

Ivan N. Baliboola 

The author has worked with some of the most well-known and influential East African brands, conducting marketing, Public relations, strategies, crisis management, and social media. He is a proud Award winner of the prestigious Public Relations Association of Uganda excellence Awards. He has volunteered his life to addressing environment and health related causes. He is also a blogger, professional critic, and strategist.

nbaliboola@gmail.com

AAR provides parental training skills to house maids

AAR Tanzania provided free Parental training skills to house maids of CRDB employees' end of the week to serve both housemaids and CRDB staffs as well .The Program prepared by the AAR employees Wellness Program team from AAR insurance for the aim of helping the house maids on how to face challenges they encounter while raising the children and other responsibilities when taking care of the houses.AAR Uganda also provides First Aid training for house girls.

The training programme involves several significant things such as, importance of self esteem, how to raise a child, to face and handle health and other challenges occurring at work. This is an opportunity for maids to gain knowledge on parental training skills. The Parental training skills programme will be done again at CRDB and also it is aiming at being a sustainable program to serve different companies and organizations in Tanzania. 

 

 

AAR holds medical camp at Crested Towers for Stanbic Bank staff

AAR Uganda   organised a two day medical camp for Stanbic Bank Uganda at Crested Towers on 13^th   June   to   14^th, 2013.The camp was managed by medical teams from AAR Kabalagala and AAR city Centre clinics respectively. Over 200 people turned up.

Services offered included free BMI measurements, blood pressure check- up, HIV testing   and counselling, blood sugar check- up, and free doctor consultation. Health promotion literature on life style diseases was available for all .There was also a blood donation drive. The event was organized by AAR in partnership with Stanbic Bank Uganda, Uganda Health marketing Group (UHMG) ,and the Uganda Blood Bank.

AAR City Centre medical outreach at Christ the king church

AAR City Centre organized a  medical outreach on June 6, 2013 at Christ the king Church. The AAR team was led by the AAR City Centre  Health Centre Manager   Dr. Vicent Bakyenga. Activities carried out included: free general body checkups, BMI measurements, blood pressure check –up, free HIV testing and counseling. Over 100 people benefited from the initiative.The AAR team gave out free consultation vouchers and health promotion literature to those who visited our  stall.AAR Uganda takes on initiatives that impact on the social well-being of communities in which it operates in. This is not the first outreach this year; AAR City Centre had an outreach in February at Kiwatule Catholic Church.