By Kellys Kaunda
PRINCIPAL PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICERS ARE NOT THE ONLY SOURCES OF GOVT INFORMATION: MY REFLECTIONS ON SC KANGWA’S REMARKS
Recently, Secretary to the Cabinet, Patrick Kangwa addressed Principal Public Relations Officers drawn from government ministries and provincial administration.
His message essentially was that these officers needed to bear in mind that they were official sources of information regarding what government was doing.
The gathering reviewed 2025 and looked ahead to 2026.
Here is what I want to say: Principal Public Relations Officers are NOT the only sources of information regarding what government is doing.
The Zambian people, institutions and visitors are, too. They experience government policy choices, decisions and actions.
In fact, they are a more authoritative, reliable and credible source of government information.
For instance, a government PR officer might say that medicines have been distributed to all the health facilities in the country.
However, the patient admitted or visiting these facilities might report that there were no medicines.
A government spokesperson might announce that government has created a hundred thousand jobs, but somebody might report that they have never been employed since they graduated 10yrs ago.
The street vendor you see every day is a more authoritative source of information regarding policy on poverty and job creation.
This source is raw and unfiltered while PR Officers are engaged in strategic communication which is a different way of saying the information has been sanitized and massaged.
If government wants to lessen massaged messaging, start by getting governance issues and development right.
PR Officers only work with what their bosses produce. No matter how hard they may try to strategically communicate, if witnesses to what government has done wrong are there for all to see, there’s nothing much they can do.
In the era of mass communication, sources of news and information are a myriad.