The Ministry of Information and Communication Technology continues to sensitize regional, and local authorities and representatives of government decentralised functions on the Government Communication Strategy for 2022 - 2027.
The strategy aims to guide the entire Government communication functions and provides an essential framework to advance socio-economic transformation through effective communication while embracing digital leadership.
The MICT minister Dr Peya Mushelenga urged government institutions to communicate to the targeted audience in a language and format that they clearly understand to avoid contradictory messages on government policies, programmes and services.
The Executive Director of the ministry, Dr Audrin Mathe says government institutions should ensure that communication officers are well-trained to provide the requested information consistently and timely.
"We will retrain them on how to write for publishers, writing for television is a lot different from writing for radio, also different from state media, we will ensure that we go to the constituencies down the rural areas.
The participants had an opportunity to share their experiences and challenges in communication between the public, government institutions as well as the media.
Questions around a lack of network connectivity in some areas, media coverage, internal communications, and dissemination of information to the public via digital platforms were also addressed by the Minister and Executive Director.
They highlighted the planned extension of network towers by telecommunications service providers, construction of MICT offices, and training of personnel in government institutions on consistent speech writing, communication equipment operation, and using effective communication tools and channels to meet GRN communication objectives.
The discussion concluded by placing an emphasis on the need to allocate more resources for the communication function in all government offices including regional councils to cover all constituencies to maintain a positive brand of government institutions through effective communication.