By our reporter
During last Sunday’s state of Nation address at Entebbe State House, President Yoweri Museveni said he would not resort to polishing Uganda’s image through public relations experts.
“I’m Yoweri Museveni, son of Kaguta, General of the National Residence Army, I don’t need any polishing,” he said.
Museveni said many PR practitioners tend to distort reality which shouldn’t be the case since the perception tends to drive the world into a wrong direction.
However,the Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) has expressed concern regarding the president’s comments.
According to PRAU president Sarah Kagingo, professional PR practice is not about distorting reality and making appearances.
“While PRAU agrees with the President when he assesses that PR should not be about distorting reality, the association maintains that professional PR practice is in fact NOT about distorting reality and making appearances. Therefore, when the President describes the advice he received as “PR”, this is far from the true definition of PR,” said Kagingo.
“PR and or Reputation Management is simply the art of creating and managing a shared understanding between an organisation or individual with their most important stakeholders,” she added.
Kagingo further advised the president that all organizations big or small especially those having higher responsibility to the public such as government, need the communication and PR function.
“Typically, the bigger the impact of an organisation/entity, the greater the need for public relations engagement,” noted Kagingo.
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