Minister Flays Govt’s Comm. Team

By Adovor Nutifafa

The ruling Government’s Communication team has come under severe criticism from of one the functionaries of the President John Evans Atta Mills administration.
Hon. Henry Ford Kamel, the immediate past Deputy Minister for Lands and Natural Resources now Minister for Volta Region, has described the government’s communication team headed by Mr. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Deputy Minister for Information, as weak and lacking the requisite coordination to perform its core mandate.
Hon. Ford Kamel, who doubles as the Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency in the Volta Region, has called for a paradigm shift in the workings of the team, saying the government’s communication team and National Democratic Congress (NDC) party’s propaganda machinery needed to be restructured for them to do what he termed “effective communication” in order to make the requisite impact.
He told The Citizen in an interview that the challenges confronting the communication team has caught the attention of the movers and shakers of the President Mills-led government and NDC as a party and they have even discussed the need to put in place measures to rectify the situation.
According to him, members who constitute the communication team must be individuals who are intelligent and who would relay the right information at the right time in a coordinated manner.
Communication, he said, is an art, adding that some individuals are born with it whiles others are trained to communicate; he stressed, “you can be a university Professor but if you are not blessed and not armed with the requisite communication skills, you cannot do effective communication to swing the mood of people”
The Volta Regional Minister explained that majority of individuals who constitute the communication team are good materials but need to be directed to do a professional work.
He said Mr. John Dramani Mahama, the Vice President, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu and Mr. Ekow Spio Garbra are some of the notable good communicators in the fold of the NDC.
In reaction to a question to the effect that, the opposition New Patriotic Party’s communication and propaganda machinery is ahead of that of the NDC, he disputed the assertion, saying the Danquah-Busia-Dombo tradition are legendary for spewing falsehood and half truths.
He said NDC’s propaganda is based on truth, stating that, “if you are in opposition you can choose to be reckless but if you are in government you have to be responsible”.
Hon. Karmel is not the first Minister of the President Mills Government to have chided the work-rate of the government’s communication team. Sacked former Attorney General, Mr. Martin Amidu once said members of the team are inexperienced.
The Citizen has gathered that some rank and file of the NDC, including some ministers, are dissatisfied with the workings and conduct of some members of the government’s communication team.
They are of the firm conviction that members of the team have developed the penchant for spewing conflicting information through the various radio, television stations and other platforms which is not inuring to the benefit of the party and the ruling government in their desperate attempt to undo each other and please the President and other members of the Cabinet of the ruling government.
This paper has also established that there are cracks in the front of the team with some members not comfortable with the leadership style of the Head of the Communication team, owing to the taking of arbitrary and unilateral decision with respect to the mode of operations of the team.
Some members of the team are unhappy about the way and manner Mr. Ablakwa used the route of text message to fire Mr. Akyena Brentuo in the heat of Mr. Alfred Agbesi Woyome’s perceived scandal. They say this practice is an affront to the tenet of democracy and good governance.

Source: The Citizen Newspaper (thecitizen.news@yahoo.com) +233 27 731 4655