Congratulations are in order to Ghanaian TV presenter and journalist Paa Kwesi Asare for scooping the 2023 BBC News Komla Dumor Award. The award was created to honour Dumor, a BBC world News presenter who died suddenly aged 41 in 2014. Dumor was renowned for his effort to bring to the fore the “more nuanced African narratives” which were hitherto relegated to the background of news reportage.
For a long time, Africa has been portrayed as backward and a place where nothing works. Oftentimes, poverty, diseases, hunger, inequalities and its underdevelopment fueled by poor governance, corruption, petty and violent political bloodbaths have dominated African narratives with screaming headlines.
It is, therefore, heart-warming to see that amidst all the negativity, there are some opinion leaders and influencers who, going by the proverbial phrase “half empty half full glass”, are able to look at Africa with a sense of optimism. They have demonstrated that the continent has plenty of positive stories on which it can leverage and shine on the global stage
A case in point is that of Kobina Ackon, who answers to the brand name Wode Maya. He is Africa’s top influential YouTuber who is on a mission to change the native narrative of Africa. Coincidentally, he is from Ghana!
In his attempt to balance the narrative, Wode Maya has dedicated his time to visiting countries around the continent. Wherever he goes, he carefully selects positive aspects which portray the positive side of the country he visits. He then posts these videos on his YouTube channel and Facebook page, highlighting his visits to these places— which include tourist attraction sites.
Recently, Wode Maya was in Malawi, courtesy of the Ministry of Tourism. He was in the spotlight when he posted a video with entrepreneur and philanthropist Napoleon Dzombe sailing on Lake Dzombe! Most of us never knew about this man-made lake and the recently inaugurated Kalipano Hotel by Sunbird in Dowa District, some 90 kilometres from Malawi’s capital, Lilongwe.
This social media content creator went to a number of tourist attraction sites such as Nkhotakota Wildlife Reserve, Cape Maclear in Mangochi and Lake Malawi in Salima District.
He also addressed youths in Blantyre on the importance of using their social media presence effectively. Evidently, Malawi has a youthful population with abundant energy and innovative ideas which, if put to good use, could help in nation branding. It is, however, pleasing to note that Malawi has up-and-coming social media enthusiasts and tour guides. I have in mind Mervis Maigwa, who, if supported, could help the country in this regard.
Going by comments on social media, one would conclude that his visit to Malawi has helped in boosting the image and reputation of the country as a tourist destination.
On the other hand, the Public Relations (PR) fraternity could draw lessons from the visit by this social media icon. The reason is that PR practitioners, in whatever capacity, are vested with the responsibility of helping in amplifying positive narratives. At national level, their role is to, among other things, provide support towards strengthening national identity and branding in order to leverage the country’s image and reputation, both locally and globally. They, therefore, need to properly package and present information on both social and conventional media platforms depending on target audience. In essence, a PR practitioner is a story teller. The fact that someone came all the way to ‘discover’ most of these tourist attraction areas speaks volumes about the state of the PR and communication functions in Malawi. It is clear that we, as a country, have not invested much in this area and, yet, Malawi has a lot to offer, in terms of tourism.
In fact, the country has many untold success stories which, if properly told, could help in enhancing the country’s reputation as well as leverage on its global competitive advantage. Such stories could include Malawi’s rich natural resources, potential in tourism and hospitality industry as well as the friendly people, rich culture and heritage. There are tourist attraction areas such as Mulanje Mountain, Unesco World Heritage site Lake Malawi National Park, with its fresh waters and popular tasty Chambo fish.
Therefore, instead of simply sitting on the fence as spectators, PR practitioners should actively get involved in amplifying the national narrative. They should consider themselves as partners in development.
However, it would be a futile effort to recruit these PR practitioners and expect them to live up to their billing, with inadequate training and an unconducive environment. Both public and private sectors should, therefore, seriously invest in training this cadre.
In addition, the government should consider re-engineering its PR and communication machinery in order to make it vibrant for effective reputation management.
But while commiserating about various social economic woes and the like, we, as citizens, should collectively strive to balance our narratives on both social and conventional media outlets by representing the positive vibes about Malawi. Tidziyamba ndi ife, shouldn’t we?
Above all, those in leadership positions should walk the talk on reputation management and nation branding efforts.
No foreign investor would be interested in investing in a country with a bad reputation.
