Hot seat

[pamba]

Do iebc have a pr department? T

[gashwin]

@pamba

Do iebc have a pr department? T

Yes they do, headed by Angela Mutemi ([SIZE=1]who was accused of participating in the 8/8 subterfuge[/SIZE])

[Mauricio]

@gashwin

Communicating science is always a problem. It becomes worse when you try to explain processes with the relevant maths and you are not the expert in the field you are trying to explain. I can imagine when the issue came up the PR people went to the IT/telecoms people for an explanation. The scientists came up with technical explanations that included mathematical models that even the PR people did not understand so they did the easy thing…they simply retitled the document from the scientists as a press statement and passed it on to a tired chairman…sorry had to go and pee…
So the chairman ended with a communications disaster because he was explaining science he didn’t quite grasp or was seeing for the first time; hence the fumbling. The PR people failed him.
Another thing that was wrong is the use of hesabu mingi. it is a joke in the communications industry is that the only numbers people like to hear about in a speech is the amount of money (and the size of breast cups!). Any other number and formulae will have the audience shut you out because they cannot process the numbers and scenarios you are talking about as fast as you are spewing them out. some even interpret your lack of communication as an attempt at obfuscation, hence they take on an adversarial stance. Woe unto you if in the audience are some of those A-hole journalists who want to show that they know better than everyone else and they will shoot questions direct from others’ twitter accounts that even they do not understand, hoping to trip you.
The Chairman’s statement yesterday fell in the realms of crisis and science communications. The first is especially a minefield when there are people looking (and even praying ) for you to trip so that they get an angle to spin or even just someone to blame. Science communication, on the other hand requires that you give a thought to the mama mboga so that you do not say stuff that will just pass over her head.
The two areas have become danger areas for communicators in the age of social media where reactions are instantaneous (and I daresay not very accurate…with people like @D… Mungai very eager to analyse and prove you wrong).
In short, yesterday’s press statement was so important (the entire credibility of the election rode on it) it should never have been handed to the chairman to read the way it is (and I am not saying he is incompetent) as it was very poorly packaged. It should have been broken down into a simple narrative and the maths and science of it passed on to the journalists as an annexature to the press release.
The problem was not Chebukati. It was his communications people. They either did not know what they were doing or they set him up to fail.

Ata sometimes unashindwa kama izo statement zake hupitia desk za watu ya communication na legal. Hii IEBC iko na watu inept sana.

[gashwin]

@Mauricio

Ata sometimes unashindwa kama izo statement zake hupitia desk za watu ya communication na legal. Hii IEBC iko na watu inept sana.

Sometimes in crisis there may be no time for legal but that’s one statement the head of corporate affairs should never have allowed to pass.

[bure]

i pitied him when he was trying to elaborate on turn out…that question was a catch from the beginning that he did not see it coming…the whole affair was to have a heated debate on voter turnout and he should have been very cautions when giving figures

[Nattydread]

Chebukati has been balanced and steady in his delivery. Sasa ni kumalizia.