Elsewhere in this edition, the Armed Forces Public Relations Directorate vent its anger on the Daily Guide over a publication about the arrest of six soldiers including a female over an illegality, knowing fully well their action was inimical to section 54 of the Armed Forces Act of 1962.
The bottom-line of the story is that some soldiers were arrested and are being detained in the guardroom after going on orders. This is not in dispute as evidenced in Col. E.W.K. Nibo�s anger-laden reaction.
�The Director of the company reported the case to the Military Police and the soldiers were arrested and detained to assist in investigations� They were subsequently charged, tried and sentenced to various terms of detention ranging between 60 and 90 days.�
The foregone corroborates our story and not suggestive that our story was without basis as the Col seeks to imply. How have we misinformed the public according to Col Nibo?
Managing Public Relations in the security agencies and indeed government departments bestows a formidable challenge upon the practitioners in uniform.
As these practitioners seek to, as it were, �eye-service� their superior officers, they sometimes go over the bar, using tones which are inimical to the maintenance of cordial relationship between the institution they serve and their publics, especially the media.
The relationship between the military and the media, which plays the role of sentinel as the Col very well knows, is symbiotic and should be protected from frosty developments such as the one under review.
This case could have been dealt with in a better way than the veiled vitriolic. This bellicose approach is not in the best interest of the military institution whose image the PR directorate should manage with a lot of finesse.
Creating the impression that we at Daily Guide are a bunch of killjoys who take delight in creating difficult moments for others is not only mendacious, but a futile attempt at seeking a pound of flesh for previous unsavoury but veracious reports.
PR reactions need not be tampered with veiled insults as the Col has done.
We are restraining ourselves from descending to the depth our friend has done and rather counsel him to consider the importance of the cordial relationship that has existed between the two organizations and behave accordingly.
Our highly esteemed readership, a microcosm of the Ghanaian society, is highly discerning as well as sensible and would dissect every issue to determine the truth.
They have the final say and in the matter we are discussing, it would interest the Col to find out what they think about his reaction.
If there are minor discrepancies such as seven soldiers under detention and not six and such other trivialities, these can be attributed to the myriad challenges the media encounters in the course of seeking information for its very important constituents- the Ghanaian population.
We are tempted to think that the Col is still smarting from the Bawku incident in which some unruly soldiers stripped two men naked as reported by the Daily Guide.
We recall that when the story broke, the usual PR management of such negative developments was to condemn it and confine it to the dustbin.
Eventually, pictorial evidence of the aberration was out to underscore the story. It appears that Daily Guide, instead of being congratulated for assisting the military to identify the bad nuts within its ranks, has sadly become an enemy of the PR department.
We wish to advise the Col to work towards facilitating easy accessing of information from his department, which as things stand leaves much to be desired.
Establishing a better relationship with the media would enable the PR directorate, and for that matter the military high command, to access vital information which is sometimes outside their reach.
The reaction under review is anything but in good faith and towards the maintenance of good and cordial relationship. Let us meet at the mess and talk over the PR washout over some chilled beverages. Good morning!
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