Enough of the pressers

Communication they say, is key in the fight against this novel Covid-19 pandemic. This process helps to inform the public on where we are, where we started, and where we are going.

Kudos to all Public Relation Officers and experts from different fields of science who have contributed positively, through public education in this fight.

I’m not against the weekly or the daily briefings from the Ministry of Information (MoI) about the fight against Covid-19, but for sometime now, the kind of approach taken is worrisome and confusing due to extra overload of information from different speakers.

As I said earlier, good communication is needed, but it seems some are taking advantage of the situation to announce their presence in the system.

Communication is not a beauty contest, or how nice one appears on TV. It has nothing to do with number of pressers or how eloquent one is but rather, the quality of the information and it's relevance in relation to the issue on board. The impact of that information too is key.

But it isn’t too late for those attention seekers to desist from the desperate unnecessary recognition.

“When somebody say that they have done something and they have to spend one hour explaining what they’ve done, then they’ve done nothing,” paraphrasing Prof. PLO Lumumba.

With this, I think, we should allow the data and the graph to speak for themselves. Those doubting should present other alternatives.

Averagely, about 5 people come and address us, which include some political activist. I don’t think this is the best way to go. At times it is annoying to hear some conflicting statements from some personalities who are leading this fight and conversation.

Some information being channeled out are unnecessary as well as this fight is concern. Unnecessary comparisons and blame games. By the way, who advised them to add that of the defunct banks, savings and loans at this crucial time where we need other information for survival? Not that, they shouldn’t address issues on the banking sector, but the where and when was problematic.

The business of “I’m also there” should immediately come to an end, so that we can see forward. We have a delicate issue to tackle, and there shouldn’t be an exhibition of grammar. No need to respond to unnecessary pressers which is irrelevant to the fight. Most of us are confused, because a lot have been given to us to digest.

Henceforth, the government communication machinery should up their game and give us what we need for now. Proper restructuring of communication, should include who to speak to what, at a particular point in time.

We should all put in mind that the enemy involved has no political affiliation and has no respect to persons.

The commander involved should be bold and whip some people inline or better show them red card. Enough of the presentation of checks in camera.