Hakainde Hichilema’s PR in Comatose -Laura Miti, My Response
Amb. Emmanuel Mwamba wrote;
Civil Society leader and President Hakainde Hichilema’s apologist, Laura Miti says the whole government media machinery is in a a deep coma and is constantly defeated by Emmanuel Mwamba’s “lies and spin.”
Her view is right but both her diagnosis and prognosis are equally flawed.
Now, here is why Hichilema’s public image remains in tatters to the extent that if Zambia held a general election today, he and most of his MPs will likely lose to any candidate the Opposition will front.
Hichilema’s own lies and broken promises that are easy to show, forms part of his biggest image crisis.
We say: “social-media does NOT forget.”
So it’s easy to replay Hichilema’s own past videos, tweets and Facebook postings to show that he has lied or continues to break his own campaign promises.
Hichilema found an economy struggling, a high cost of living, foreign debt burden issues that were sitting on a bed of legacy issues such as unemployment, lack of economic opportunities, disease burden, a volatile exchange rate, corruption, abuse of the law and human rights abuses.
Unfortunately, Hichilema has driven all these indices to a worse level than we have ever witnessed in the last 60 years.
This crisis is HH’s own making. He won’t even consider an apology against his own lies and sadly won’t accept that things are worse. Like Laura, he thinks its a mere image or PR crisis.
O er three years in office now, he has encouraged his officials and praise singers to sing that it’s the Patriotic Front that is to blame for the current crises, even when these assertions are mostly false and just annoy citizens further!
Let’s look at President Hakainde Hichilema’s various media teams.
He has Clayson Hamasaka, Frederick Misebezi and Brian Mwiinga at State House.
He recently recruited veteran journalist and lawyer, Whitney Mulobela to help with media strategy.
He has Chief Government Spokesperson, Cornelius Mweetwa and his wayward, zealous and toxic Permanent Secretary, Thabo Kawana.
He has those manning his foreign media buy and apearances such as Brenthurst Foundation.
He has Mark Simuuwe speaking and totles himself as a ” UPND consultant”! Which consultant speaks for an organisation he has been hired to? Does Simuuwe know what the word “Consultant” mean?
He has Jaquiline Chishimba who does government and agency related PR at a commercial fee.
He has assembled radio callers, social-media bloggers and the UPND is currently hosting various party media centres.
He has Frank Bwalya, Cosmas Chileshe and Patrick Samwimbila he recently poached from the Patriotic Front.
He has State House Special Assistant for Investments, Jito Kayumba, who promotes quality videos and drone shots like that of weddings, over emphasis on credible or persuasive content.
He had Times of Zambia, Zambia Daily Mail, ZANIS and ZNBC that urgently need a reboot to move away from their archaic methods and legacy tendencies.
He has various Ministries, Departments and Agencies that have their own fully fledged PR units.
Hichilema also has a media friendly private media, some bought, some invested-in, some loyal, and others intimidated.
So despite his wide media infrastructure , why is Hichilema’s media in comatose? that “it’s being defeated by Emmanuel Mwamba” according to Laura Miti?
First of all his team of advisors believe in a hard and brutal approach, a mistaken belief that this will bring to order erring Opposition, vocal critics or a wayward social-media platform.
Instead of applying media skills to every contentious issue and concentrating on setting the agenda or merely doing their job, his media teams believe in using the Police, issues unwarranted threatens, beat, detain and arrested us.
Everyone throws their weight against us from ZANIS reporter Kalani Muchima who constantly calls for our arrest to UPND media page owners such as my young brother Roy Makayi demanding an equal platform debate.
Sadly Hichilema, verily, believes in Koswe and affiliated rogue media outlets, a type of media that churns out defamatory and annoying insults against his perceived political opponents, probably guerilla journalism that could served and saved him better in Opposition but totally irrelevant and a PR nightmare for a ruling Party determined to win hearts and minds of stakeholders and the people.
His Permanent Secretary of Information and Media, Thabo Kawana falsely postures himself as Chief Government Spokesperson thereby constantly undermining the role of his Minister.
Because he lacks the authority, Kawana creates a nagging perception, especially, on hot or sensitive matters, that his statements may be overruled by the Minister.
He creates an unmistakable impression of unbriddled and naked ambitions, that he must be appointed as Minister and Chief Government Spokesperson.
It is worse at State House, the seat of all power. State House has no voice or face of Spokesperson.
Clayson Hamasaka is expected to play this role “alilubila mubowa”! However we only see Hamasaka at work through dry statements, usually poorly written, we see more of his cattle and his fish projects than we see him perform his role as State House Spokesperson.
Because of thsi vacuum at State House and Ministry of Information, others have tried to step up to fill the vacuum such as Thabo Kawana and Mark Simuuwe.
But from their work, its easy to note that both have no media training, cannot set the national agenda and are constantly reactive.
There is a clear disconnect in communication of government policies and programs. Its the case of the left hand NOT knowing what the right hand is doing.
They think by arresting us, scandalising us or destroying us, or labeling us propagandist, that it will take away the failed project that President Hakainde Hichilema is quickly panning out to be.
You cannot spin against hunger.
You cannot spin yourself out of a volatile exchange rate market.
You cannot hide corruption.
You cannot hide scandals.
You cannot hide unemployment, cost of living crisis and disease outbreaks!
You cannot spin yourself out of of an economic crisis.
My simple advice to President Hichilema is that before he considers putting up a new media team, he should work and deliver!Chapwa!
Working hard without any meaningful results requires an introspection.
There is no better story, no better PR than the story of success and results..failure attracts blame games while success attracts results and many fathers.
LAURA MITI WROTE:
If the President resolutely refuses to put together a PR team, that can easily show the stories that Emmanuel Mwamba expertly (grant that to him) puts together, to be mostly lies or spin, then he cannot be excused for unpresidentially doing what should be left to his communication team.
The whole government being defeated in the PR game because the Kateks refuses to do the right, if difficult, thing. Refuses to reassign, not even fire, those who have failed in a fundamental task.
The problem is not social media, Sir! It’s your comatose communication function.
Hakainde Hichilema’s PR in Comatose -Laura Miti, My Response- Emmanuel Mwamba
