The Chief of Winneba, Neenyi Gartey VII has called for a closer collaboration between the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) and government to help improve the level of government communications on its policies and programmes.
The Omanhene of Winneba underscored the need for the Institute to offer training for government spokespersons and communicators in order for them to correctly propagate the government programmes.
He observed that there have been some of the communicators who end up confusing the public in their attempt to explain government policies.
The Chief made this observation when a delegation of IPR led by its president Ms. Elaine Sam, paid a courtesy call on him at his palace as part of the National PR Conference and 25th AGM which took place in Winneba over the weekend.
The Omanhene conversations on the double track system by government spokesperson has not been encouraging and called on the Ministries of Education and Information to do more to get the citizenry well informed on the policy so it can benefit many more Ghanaians.
He therefore called on government to allow for proper training of their members to ensure that there is an uplift of the communication process in governance.
Responding to the concerns of the Omanhene, Ms. Sam noted “There have been instances where politicians come into power with their party people to handle communications and some of these are not even professionals, and this accounts for the poor levels of government communications.”
She explained that the processes used by the Institute to offer accreditation to PR members is very rigorous, and that is to ensure qualified members are able to discharge their duties as professionals.
She identified the process of recruitment, training and orientation as some of the factors that influence the poor performance.
Ms. Sam added that their representation on the Ministry of Information advisory board would offer the platform for the Institute to properly engage government to achieve the objective of training and orientation for government communicators, adding that the poor performance also affects the image of the Institute.
The Honorary Secretary of the Institute of Public Relations Ghana, Henry Nii Dottey, explained the choice of Winneba for the 2018 National Conference and 25th AGM and the programme of activities.
The National Conference took place on Thursday, October 18, with Director of the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Dr. Margaret Ivy Amoakohene, APR Director of the School of Communication Studies, University of Ghana , past president of the IPR, Joseph Emmanuel Allotey Pappoe among other PR practitioners.
Neenyi Gartey VII thanked the delegation for the visit and noted that PR practice is respected in advanced democracies and IPR must do its best to elevate the status of the profession in Ghana.
He added the theme for the celebration is very apt in helping to restore the lost values of the Ghanaian people.
Source: 3news.com| Ghana