An investigation by this press has shown that strategic Communication work in the New Direction Government has been constrained by the allocation of insufficient funds.
The communication strategists have therefore insistently complained about the inadequate funds noting that the allotted sum is grossly insufficient to enable them effectively undertake communication activities for the government.
The source further indicates that the lack of sufficient funds for the communication strategists is conferring an edge on the main opposition, the All People’s Congress.
“It is bad for the ruling party especially when elections are at the corner,” the source says.
If the current situation persists, the source continues, the fastly approaching 2022 and 2023 local council and general elections will catch government in the midst of a weak and constrained communication team.
It goes without saying that the insignificant funds would continue to negatively impact on government. The Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Government of President Julius Maada Bio is on record to have made glorious achievements since it came to power.
But, the low funds allocated to the media team made it difficult for the achievements to catch public attention as they could not viably perform their function. Opinion crisis is one of the greatest tragedies SLPP Government faces in the governance of the state.
A great number of Sierra Leoneans have come to perceive government as one that is weak and non-performing while the reality suggests the contrary. The public perception although is not the reality is impacting the relationship between the government and the people.
Political analysts have argued that it will be difficult for a state to develop if there is a strained relationship between the rulers and the ruled owing to wrong perceptions. It is the principal duty of the communication machinery to turn perceptions of the people to the favour of government.
But, such duty can only be successfully carried out when sufficient funds are available for such job. Sierra Leone is one among few African states where a child is educated free-of-charge since the pronouncement of the Free Quality Education project.
The project which is a solace to poor mothers and fathers gets a fair share of the country’s resources. It takes 21 per cent of the country’s national budget which runs into billions of Leones. Although FQE is an investment that has no equal, its good side is yet to sufficiently capture minds owing to a constrained communication team of government.
Imagine the terrible academic standing of a pupil, in the old days, who would be driven from school several times for a school fee. Imagine the emotional impact of a child who would be disgracefully and shamefully asked out of a classroom in the presence of colleagues because their parents cannot pay school fees on time.
Imagine the number of classes and lessons the child without a school fee would miss for lack of school fee. The New Direction has put to an end to all those worries and sad imaginations for the children of Sierra Leone and their parents.
A student loan scheme is being established in tertiary institutions to enhance higher education in Sierra Leone. These are powerful messages that the media team have to convey to the people, and constantly remind them about it for a successful come back of the SLPP.
Another great achievement of the ruling SLPP is the setting aside of the age-old obnoxious criminal libel law contained in Part-V of the Public Order Act, 1965. It is another solid achievement the people of Sierra Leone should know about through the effort of government communication team especially potential investors.
The law was a bad law, but a bad law is a law until repealed, and that is what the SLPP Government has succeeded in doing. They have created an enviable record over successive governments who have repeatedly made promises of repeal without fulfilling them.
It happened between 2018 and 2019 when government was misunderstood in its struggle to strengthen a rule of law culture, probity in public service, prudent management of state resources through accountability mechanism by way of a Commission of Inquiry (COI).
The first message the main opposition succeeded in passing through to the people of Sierra Leone was that the COI was a witch hunt to former government whose officials were mainly drawn from the north-western part of the country.
Owing to widespread and entrenched gullibility, the North-western regions and other parts of the country accepted the message without hesitation and the COI’s work was considerably undermined. It goes without saying that the undermine successfully occurred owing to weak financing of the communication team.
A belated effort by Government Communication strategists at clearing the misconception earlier borne by majority of the people became a mere disaster. The first message resonated with the thinking and interest of a great many people in Sierra Leone, and the communication strategists were ushered into a watershed moment.
Their effort was a wasted one, and the funds spend did not yield the dividend required. The resistance continues to date because the communication team lacks the financial wherewithal to create an atmosphere of cooperation between the people and the government.
Suffice to say the government does not see eye-to-eye with the people in respect of the COI owing to an ill-financed communication team. The trend of non-cooperation continues seen in the stiff resistance against Government’s White Paper.
The setting up of a communication team that cannot be financed well to set the ideal stage where government and the people come together in interactive fashion is a complete travesty public relations.
Thus, communication strategists call on government to allocate sufficient funds to intensify their communication campaigns if the ruling SLPP wants to enjoy a second coming.