How Public Relations helps in demystifying Presidential messages during crisis times

By Mugonero Ivan Mutebe

A statement attributed to Marie-Antoinette. The question is however, did she ever say those words? or the 1789 French revolutionaries falsely credited it to Antoinette as propaganda for building opposition for the ruling monarch at the time (Cunningham, n.d). Perhaps it was the absence of political public relations at the time that the statement was never demystified contributing to the downfall of the monarchy! Well, it is not this article’s main weight to debunk the statement. I just offer it as a “starter” (metaphorically used).

The emergency of crises in their varying form and measure have overtime placed state leaders/presidents at the forefront of communicating solutions to manage such crises. The manner in which they address the public in response to the soaring fears and uncertainties has a great bearing on how they are perceived by the different publics and if not well managed may lead to the downfall of such leaders. History is littered with evidence that substantiates this. For instance, during the first major global economic crisis triggered by the Wall Street Crash on October 29 in 1929, later the 2008 global economic crisis triggered by liquidity problems in major global banks like US’ Bear Stearns bank, UK’s Northern Rock bank and finally US’ major global bank Lehman Brothers (Hart & Tindall, 2009). Consequently, such crises have resulted into fall of state leaders because of failure to demystify their solutions to the various stakeholders.

In the US, Herbert Hoover lost to Franklin Delano Roosevelt during the first economic crisis and Bush was replaced by Barack Obama during the 2008 crisis (History Learning Site, 2006). In the UK, Gordon Brown was defeated by Conservative David Cameron during the 2008 crisis (Penninck, 2014).  

The aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis whose effects have been compounded by a global economic crisis has since seen protests in countries like Kazakhstan (BBC, 4 Jan 2022), Sri Lanka, Iran, Pakistan, among other countries (Aljazeera, 3 July 2022). The Sri Lankan case resulted in the ousting of the president through a civil disobedience protest. Kenya has in recent weeks witnessed demonstrations by the opposition against high costs of living. Uganda as well witnessed some not-so-successful protests by opposition leaders in the previous year.

To avoid dire consequences of the crises, presidents have to deliver messages that rally public support for the proposed crisis solutions. However, such messages are either often delivered in a manner that is not guided by clear public relations strategies or not followed by public political communication to demystify such messages. The major question that remains to be answered is whether presidents and governments take advantage of the services of public relations in demystifying their messages to the public.

Upon this backdrop, this article pays attention to the Ugandan context in leveraging the role of public relations in demystifying presidential messages during crisis times. The main thesis statement of the article is that political public relations by public relations officers can play a major role in stakeholder communication and in demystifying messages by presidents in crisis times. This helps in strategically preempting the PR tactics used by the opposition in shaping negative publicity of the president and his government. In an attempt to present the ideas in this thought leadership article in a rather logical and highly accessible style for my reader, the article presents a recent public relations issue in Uganda.

For almost a year now, Uganda just like other economies emerging out of the economic shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic has witnessed an economic crisis characterized by high commodity prices. The commodity prices have been exacerbated partly by global supply chain constraints and a high fuel price of nearly $1.56 per litre which has had a negative ripple effect on all aspects of the economy.

Ugandans have been forced to spend twice as much to afford necessities including food (Athumani, May 23, 2022) resulting in an unbearable cost of living. Ugandans have asked government to intervene in the emerging economic crisis prompting the president to respond to the matter, first during the international Labor Day celebrations and later in a televised state address on the 22^nd May 2022.

The president rejected tax cuts and advised citizens to only import items the country can afford and substitute expensive wheat with locally available food like cassava, bananas, millet and maize. The president feared for a worse economic crisis if tax cuts were taken. The president further preached frugality in household expenditure. 

However, the president’s communications have since been interpreted as inconsiderate of the plight of the citizens with media and political activists shaping a misrepresented narrative and interpretation of Museveni’s speeches. Last year there was an uproar in both main stream and social media that seemed to deduce Museveni’s speech as reckless and likened to Marie Antoinette’s condescending advice of “cake if bread is expensive.”

Such misrepresentations by media and other actors make a solution to a crisis more complex. They build into propaganda and deny the public a chance to carefully pay attention to the strategic points of the presidential message. The dominance of skewed interpretations of the president’s messages are as a result of failure of government and presidential communication teams to demystify the messages to the public.

Similar inefficiencies were seen during the campaign period towards the 2021 general elections in Uganda where the president advised against mass political rallies for public health safety. Remember, government communicators face heightened citizen and media scrutiny for their messages (Lee, Neeley & Stewart, 2012) and if there is no clear public relations by the government, opposition exploits the weakness with a skewed interpretation to score socio-political points from the public. This is done through intentional alterations of messages which this article will metaphorically liken to the “Chinese Whispers game,” “bullshitting,” agenda setting and framing through protests.

All these are used to persuade the public to withdraw government support during a crisis. The problem is exacerbated by the lack of a seat for public relations officers at the top management table of the parties of ruling governments and their presidential press teams. 

Excellent crisis communications through public relations can help avert a crisis, hasten the end to a crisis, and help an organization recover more quickly and learn more from a crisis (Lee, Neeley & Stewart, 2012).

In situations of adverse publicity (crises) as the case was in Uganda last year and presently in Kenya-or in case the government is under crisis on development projects, advanced public relations can help get rid of misunderstanding (Chinese Whispers) and develop a mutual understanding between the government and the public. This builds trust and logical patience with the government as it gropes around for a solution to a crisis.

Ivan Mugonero is a Human rights advocate and M&E specialist