The Buganda Kingdom Premier, Charles Peter Mayiga appreciated the efforts of the Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU), an umbrella body of all private and public PR professionals, for continuously lifting the standards and practice of Public Relations in Uganda.
Mayiga expressed his gratitude last week at the PRAU’s end-of-year party dubbed ‘PRAU NITE’ where he noted that communication is the key to the raising of the company or nation and at the same time a weapon that can destroy a company, an organisation or a country.
He said that professional ways of communication not only solve problems for the company or nation but they are also key in brand selling of; a company, organization or nation.
“I am very happy to be here with those who set the narratives of different organisations. PR plays a key role in drafting and communicating matters on policy, and national and international agendas, among others. I thank the PRAU Governing Council for forging partnerships with the Buganda kingdom and I look,” he said.
He however challenged them to continue striving for professionalism in PR as they execute their work by promoting both their companies and the country at large.
In the same space Stephen Mwanga, the association’s 44th President highlighted that PRAU strives to undertake initiatives that advance public relations excellence through knowledge and skills sharing, training of its members and career growth which they have continuously carried out. He also urged PR professionals not to end up implementing management decisions.
“PR is a management function. As PR professionals, we ought to act strategically to further enhance our organisational agendas. This starts with taking our rightful seats in the management boardrooms and aiming to meet overall organizational objectives in our day-to-day roles,” said Mwanga.
Minister of ICT and National Guidance Chris Baryomunsi who also doubles as PRAU’s Patron, appreciated the PRAU Governing Council for making steps into gaining statutory recognition and pledged his support.
‘As the PRAU patron, I will continue to work together with the PRAU Governing Council to tackle challenges and offer much better and more effective solutions. I am therefore happy that we are taking strides in the PRAU Bill drafting and I am positive that PRAU will soon have a statutory instrument,” he said.
At the same event, PRAU celebrated the fundamental role PR professionals play in managing and implementing strategic communication functions where some senior professionals in the industry were awarded for exceptionally delivering their roles in the PR and in the Media industry respectively. Some of the outstanding individuals that received accolades were; Hope Kivengere, Vincent Musubire Kityamuweesi, Prof Abbaa Kiyimba, Barbara Kaija, Phillip Wafula Ogutu, and David Ouma Balikoowa.
Among the activities of the event was a knowledge-sharing session on ‘Leveraging Media Relations to increase brand awareness and return on investment.
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