The Minister of Information and Civic Education, Honorable Chernor Bah, on 17th August 2023, engaged government Information, Public Relations and Media Officers from Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) at the Ministry of Development and Economic Planning (MODEP) Conference Hall, Tower Hill, Freetown.
The purpose of the meeting was to map out ways to synergize information dissemination in line with government’s development efforts and priorities.
The Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education, Yusuf Keketoma Sandi Esq, made it very clear in his welcome address, that, “It must be understood that government is a unit”. He added that spokespersons have the responsibility to ensure that whatever they say on behalf of their MDAs must align with Government’s overall vision and expectations. He stressed that “we should be able to device systems and mechanisms where every information is managed from the Ministry of Information.” The Deputy Minister spoke about creating a hub to assemble information generated by all MDAs. “You should know that wherever we go, people want to know everything about government because of the nature of the job we do”, he noted. Furthermore, he said they would be constrained to comment on developments in certain ministries if they don’t have an infrastructure that helps them get the relevant information in real time. “We all need to achieve collectively. We can have the best performing government but the government that cannot communicate its achievements to the people is a failed government,” he emphasized.
The Minister maintained that when it comes to communication, there must be absolute professionalism and excellence. Mr. Bah said the vision of the President which the ministry is determined to implement, is for information flow to be seamless, predictable, systematic and strategic. He pointed out that a system should be put in place to achieve this goal. He lamented about internal and external communication ineffectiveness, in his words, “the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing”. However, he was quick to accept that it was a systemic issue. “We want to learn from you what is working and what is not working.”
Various Communications Officers spoke about challenges faced in their MDAs ranging from lack of equipment and resources to carry out their functions effectively, to unequal renumeration across functions. Some spoke about not being involved in the planning stage of relevant projects – which makes their jobs difficult. Participants requested the Minister and his Deputy to visit the various MDAs to see how they could help improve the situation.
