The president of Ghana’s Institute of Public Relations (IPR), Mawuko Afadzinu, has called on public relations (PR) practitioners to adopt effective communication strategies as means to restore public trust while preserving credibility in their practice.
Referencing the recent Afrobarometer Report, he said trust in virtually every public institution in the country has gone low. He explained that while public trust in the presidency is at a scary 14 percent, that of government has sunk to an all-time low – with about 70 percent of citizens saying the country’s democracy is a sham in terms of results.
Mr. Afadzinu indicated that the military remains the most credible and trustworthy public institution most Ghanaian look up to: but was quick to add that the implications of their high-handed approach in resolving the recent Ashaiman crisis – which led to the death of one of their own – has dented their image severely, calling for them to take steps to remedy this before it becomes too late.
He said the trust-deficit in the country has placed a huge responsibility on PR practitioners and communicators, who need to ensure it is tilted in the right direction with effective communication.
Mr. Afadzinu made these remarks during his keynote address at the 2023 National Public Relations and Communications summit/annual general meeting held in Kwahu in the Eastern Region, under the theme ‘Staying credible through rough patches’.
The three-day event sought to provide networking as well as professional development opportunities, and saw in attendance personalities and dignitaries such as: Brigadier General Emmanuel Aggrey-Quarshie, Director-General of Public Relations, Ghana Armed Forces (GAF); Esther Cobbah, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Strategic Communications Africa Ltd. (Stratcomm Africa); and Henry Nii Dottey, Vice President of IPR, among many others.
Ken Ashigbey, convener for the Media Coalition against Illegal Mining, in addressing the gathering pointed out that the current government’s reluctance to constantly engage the public in dialogue during crises and challenging times is a sign of it not appreciating the value of communication, explaining: “It is not that Ghana is bereft of credible communicators, but rather leadership of the day is not taking communications seriously. We have people with the capacity to help us achieve a lot in this regard, but they seem to be pushed to the back while propagandists engage the public in their stead”.
He cited the Domestic Debt Exchange programme and E-levy, among others, as instances when government has failed to carry out its public engagement responsibility of effective communication, resulting in credibility and trust deficits.
“The credibility and trust deficits are very high because a lot of things we said we were not going to do we ended up doing, and the vice versa. For example, we said we would not go back to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) but we are there today. The Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) is another case in point where credibility was damaged in terms of the manner in which communication was managed around it,” Mr. Ashigbey elaborated.
Worst of all, he added, government for some unknown reasons tend to always put the cart before the horse by first taking the wrong decision before calling for stakeholder engagements to consider issues of national importance, saying: “We tend to engage stakeholders after we have taken the decision and realise things are going bad, as in the case of the Electronic Levy. There was no conversation and the levy was announced; and so we spent a lot of time and money on the law, trying to engage when things went bad.
“Also, we did not manage the DDEP properly; there was lack of stakeholder engagement and the negotiations were poorly done,” he said.
While admonishing PR practitioners to say calm in crisis situations, allowing their awareness of internal and external happenings to inform their decisions, he also advised them to be mindful about how they speak the truth and convey it to the public in order to build trust and credibility.
He urged them to take advantage of their proximity to government to sell it the value of communication, saying their failure to act this way could lead to inexperienced, self-acclaimed communicators taking up their role.
Mr. Ashigbey also advised state communicators to desist from propaganda and adopt proper means of communicating in their public engagement activities: “Be credible, add value to yourselves and celebrate those among you doing well – those who are breaking the glass ceiling”.
