Push 'Ghana Beyond Aid' agenda – Oppong Nkrumah to IPR

The Minister of Information, Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has charged Public Relation practitioners to lead their organisations in properly engaging stakeholders on issues of concern.

Mr Nkrumah was addressing the National Public Relation and Communication Summit at Ada last Friday on the theme: ‘Deriving value from values: achieving the Ghana beyond aid agenda’.

He said the world, including Ghana, was noticing increasing confrontation and clashes between various stakeholders, some of which have led to strikes, agitation, boycotts and sometimes conflict.

These challenges, he noted, may be attributed to a PR fiasco either through a deliberate misinformation campaign being perpetrated by competition or by a genuine failure to properly engage the stakeholders.

Commenting on the theme, Mr Nkrumah said PROs, like other professionals, have a role to play in ensuring that the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda succeeds.

The minister, who is also the MP for Ofoase Ayirebi, said the government has invited the Institute of Public Relations to serve on the Ghana Beyond Aid Communication Strategy Committee and was optimistic their inclusion will pay off.

“As PR practitioners, it is our duty to let Ghanaians know, understand, and buy into the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda. We must deliver new attitudes that are required to fulfil it. That’s why we have invited the IPR to serve on the Communication Strategy Committee and we are looking forward to the output from your participation,” he said.

Mr Oppong Nkrumah stated that “the contemporary world of PR has been made more complex with the advent of deliberate misinformation campaigns spread widely through social media platforms and we have to be upfront and agile in confronting it. We will have to develop the tools and strategies to stay ahead of the curve quickly”.