Two weeks ago Secretary to the Treasury Betchani Tchereni led a Malawi delegation to Israel for discussions on Malawi’s labour export deal which has so far seen at least 1,000 Malawians working in that country.
The 12-member delegation included senior government officials from ministries of Finance, Foreign Affairs and Labour, the Office of the President and Cabinet and chairpersons of relevant Parliament committees.
The trip came amid so many contradicting versions of narratives about the labour export arrangement.
The trip was necessary as the delegation appeared to have addressed most of the sticky issues surrounding the labour export deal, if recent media reports are anything to go by.
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Furthermore, we were also lavished with some social media updates on the delegates taking time off from their busy schedule to relax during excursions!
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Just to take you back a bit, it all started as a story that dominated conversations in both social and conventional media about two months ago, that some youths were being sent to Israel to work in farms.
The issue also found its way into Parliament, when one of the legislators sought clarification about the rumours.
Parliament being a house of records, the member was asked to come forward with evidence.
The issue was later dismissed after the lawmaker reportedly failed to bring the evidence. It therefore meant that the issue until then remained as mere speculation as far as the August house was concerned.
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Meanwhile, Malawi News run a story about some recruitment activities by private agents going on in Lilongwe and Liwonde, where hundreds of youths were being enlisted for jobs abroad.
The paper even confirmed about scores of youths having left the country through Kamuzu International Airport to Israel to work in the farms.
This information was immediately dismissed by spokespersons from ministries of Foreign Affairs and Labour.
But in a twist of events, government through Ministry of Labour issued a press statement to announce exactly what had earlier been refuted and that it had in fact “embarked on the export of labour to various countries including Israel”.
Some good news indeed as this was in line with government’s job creation agenda.
However, what left some baffled was why this vital information was kept under wraps. In the information age, functional and trustworthy channels of communication are paramount.
Any delay or suppression of information could only lead to public anxiety, speculation and rumour-mongering, hence undesired distortion of facts.
Ironically all this was happening against the backdrop of the Malawi Government having enacted the Access to Information law which came into force on September 30, 2020.
Section 5 of the Act says: “A person shall have the right of access to information in so far as that information is required for the exercise of his rights, which is in custody of, or under the control of a public body or a relevant private body to which this Act applies, in an expeditious and inexpensive manner.”
On the other hand, sections 15 and 16 have provisions for proactive disclosure of information. This means government could have disclosed this information in the same spirit of the Act.
Apparently, in yet another twist of events, it later emerged that contrary to what the public was meant to believe, there was no formal government-to-government agreement between Malawi and Israel, if the revelations by the recent visit by the Malawi delegation as per media reports are anything to go by.
This development has since prompted the delegation which met Israel officials to lobby for the formal signing of the government-to-government agreement in order “to miximise gains for the country”. This is a step in the right direction.
However, moving forward, some lessons could be drawn from this information conundrum. Truth be told, trust issues might have arisen from government’s public relations (PR) and communication perspective.
The narrative related to the labour export could have been managed better. The reason is that as Steven M.R. Covey puts it in his book The Speed of Trust, we are living in a world where most institutions are not trusted.
Public information, therefore, has to be handled with some degree of integrity to avoid eroding public trust.
Nevertheless, situations could arise where those in custody of information are under pressure to provide the information.
However, it has to be acknowledged that considering the complexity of government operations, some information may not be readily available.
But this should not be a justification for providing inaccurate or doctored information. Such instances may not augur well with a government which has always been a champion of transparency and accountability.
To avert such situations, government should strive to provide public information in a coordinated and consistent manner. At all cost, avoid contradictions as this would only tarnish government’s image and reputation.
Above all, ensure that those handling public information are well versed in PR and communication matters.
Good PR is about being sincere. PR is not about propaganda or ‘tinting’ information as other quarters may want to believe.
