The Government Spokesperson
By Dickson Jere
“Information dissemination is very crucial in any country. The right message must be put across by government consistently and convincingly”.
For a very longtime, Rwanda had an eloquent Information Minister who also served as chief government spokesperson. Ms Louise Mushikiwabo had a rare gift of writing well as well as talking well. And very good with media relations. She was so good at the job. When President Paul Kagame promoted her to the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, he made her move with the role of chief government spokesperson to her new position.
I met her several times – she was a damn good communicator and director of ceremonies for most state functions in Kigali.
Consequently, the government spokesperson role became part of Foreign Affairs ministry in Rwanda. After her departure, the successor assumed the role of government spokesperson.
It appears, from what I gather, did not perform to the level of the lady. She left the gap after serving in that position for 10 years! She went to take up a big role as Secretary General of the International Organization of Francophone countries.
And so, in July this year, President Kagame decided to create a standalone position of government spokesperson and appointed his State House media advisor to take up the position. The versatile Yolande Makolo – whom I personally know from my stately days – is now speaking for the entire government of Rwanda. She is an experienced media and public relations person. Yolande is also good with social media.
You see, information dissemination is very crucial in any country. The right message must be put across by government consistently and convincingly.
In short, countries must develop own communication strategies that suits their needs. This can be done outside the traditional structure of the ministry of information. What is key is that someone must sharply speak for government, convincingly. It needs someone who can take on the powerful international media such as BBC, CNN, Sky, etc with easy. Spokesperson is chef marketer of the government and the country.
So spokesperson can even be the Minister of Local Government or Minister of Justice or indeed Minister of whatever – so long as that person can do the job.
But what am I talking about? It seems I have digressed from the topic…
NB – Mushikiwabo holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Master’s Degree in Languages and Interpretation. She also served as Communications director for Africa Development Bank. She is author of the book “Rwanda Means the Universe”.