... in gov’t information dissemination

She is beautiful and elegant. Perhaps that is why her critics would want her to be on television every minute to showcase her God-given ‘particulars’ to the world in the name of information dissemination. What they seem to have forgotten however is that the Minister of Information, Mrs Zita Okaikwei is not the M-net face of Africa. She is not to blame entirely for the lack of timely government information flow, but the entire information system of the government which without an iota of doubt is faulty, deficient and problematic.

The job of the Information Minister is to disseminate government information timeously for public consumption. But the information must first of all be made available to Zita in time from the seat of government and all other government sources for her office to analyse and disseminate to the public promptly.

Checks by The Catalyst have shockingly revealed that, on the contrary, that has not been the case since this government took over power in January. Information flow to Zita has been chequered.

The latest ‘sabotage’ has been the delay in handing the Ministry of Information a copy of the 2010 budget statement. The problem is therefore a matter of systemic failure and not a failed individual in the person of the Information Minister.

It is not too clear what the motivation is for the withholding of information from the Information Minister. It is untenable the assumption that Zita would be chasing her colleague ministers and information handlers at the Castle around for information. They must make the information timeously available to her. Then she can take it up from there.

Against this backdrop it is preposterous the persistent calls for Zita’s head. But The Catalyst can reveal that President Mills will not succumb to unnecessary pressure to kick Zita out of his government to serve the whims and caprices of a few individuals. The President is smarter than that.

Many people this paper spoke with share this paper’s view that Zita cannot be responsible for the collapse of government systems of information. The general consensus is that government information communication is not a one-man show. It is supposed to be multi-faceted with a multidimensional approach where the Ministry of Information is supposed to be the coordinating centre.

If it is not happening that way, it will be a shame to blame poor Zita for the failure of a whole government communication.

What the NDC government must do is to take a second look at the whole information setup and put its house in order.

That is the way forward and not about showing the Minister the exit. By Desmond Darko (Editor)