A union of various government agencies has mutually agreed to enhance the publicity of their achievements thus far, stating that President Yoweri Museveni-led administration has done a lot, but not all of it has been duly publicised.
This was revealed yesterday during a fourth meeting of leaders of government agencies held at State House Investors’ Protection Unit (SHIPU) offices in Kampala and was chaired by Dr. Barirega Akankwasah, the Executive Director of National Environment Management Authority (NEMA).
“Some Ugandans are not even aware that Uganda has a second International airport (Kabaale), government agencies should commit more of their budgets towards communication to publicise these government achievements in all the local languages spoken and widely understood in places like West Nile and the Rwenzori sub-region,” Mr. Willis Bashaasha, the Director of Manifesto Implementation Unit, advised.
His recommendation was met with endorsement from among the leaders, who mutually agreed that indeed there is a need to step up efforts to ensure that all Ugandans from various dialects and all age groups are notified about government achievements in the languages that they are most fluent in.
Dr. Barirega suggested a testimonial approach of government beneficiaries to further tell these stories and also involvement of digital media platforms in propelling the message to far-flung corners of the country and the globe, as well as embracing social media influencers to drive this agenda, arguing that these online content creators of late also have audiences that are loyal to them. “We pledge to continue,” Dr. Barirega said in response to Mr. Bashaasha’s call to enhance the impact of these regular meetings.
Dr. Barirega acknowledged the importance of having customised messages intended for various audiences such as the elites, youths, children, women and farmers, as well as other social or professional groupings in the most effective way possible. “This information should be tailored for the various audiences that we seek to target. We have a plan to do a dissemination exercise on traditional media and social media platforms, but also baraazas under the Musevenomics concept. You are advised to use your PR officers to publicise what you are doing,” Dr. Barirega asserted.
The meeting attracted over twelve executives from the various government bodies who discussed a variety of cross-cutting issues.
During her presentation, Ms. Gloria Sebikari, Petroleum Authority of Uganda (PAU)’s Corporate Affairs Manager explained in detail the key activities being undertaken by the government in the Albertine region and shared key figures and statistics about the petroleum sector, which her entity regulates.
“So, the first production project is Kingfisher, it has four fields, it includes four oil fields, the estimated investment is about three billion dollars, all the land for this project was secured, and the project affected persons were compensated, relocated, and some are undergoing livelihood restoration. The overall project progress is over 80 per cent,” she stated.
She told the leaders that Tilenga is the second project with similar facilities but on a much larger scale for producing six oil fields; it’s about 57 per cent complete.
Among the mega achievements she highlighted were employment opportunities of over 17,000 jobs who are directly employed with 63% of these Ugandans in management positions, while 93% occupy technical roles and 98% of the Ugandan workforce in support roles.
Another 35,000 Ugandans are indirectly employed through these oil exploration activities, while another 100,000 are induced jobs.
On his part, Mr. Osborn Turyasingura, the secretary at the National Secretariat for Special Interest Groups, who also doubles as the KCCA urban division councillor, said there is a need to engage the young people to update them about the government’s accomplishments. He narrated how he recently attended a meeting in Lira that attracted over 1,000 people who were very inquisitive about government activities. “How do we engage all these universities, women and youth who have structures from the village up to the national level?” Mr. Turyasingura inquired.
Ms. Mercy Kainobwisho, Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB) Registrar General, commended the petroleum sector for the growth, saying there is a lot of development happening in the oil resource centres. She also noted that URSB recently set up an office in Hoima, which is doing so well.