Govt PR Should Give No Room

…To Undermining Gains Made By Sirleaf Adm.

A Liberian Journalist, Mr. Bill K. Jarkloh, is calling on the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism to consider synchronizing government websites to LiberiaNet, where all other Liberia webs will be linked. “This will make it easier to research Liberia at home and from abroad,” Mr. Jarkloh said.

The journalist reiterated that Liberian government continues to be dead at the expensive of the progressivism with which the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Administration works. He further criticized the Ministry of Information and other operatives of the government’s information and communication offices for their failures to update websites of government ministries and agencies established on the cyber superhighway.

Journalist said any act of “inefficiency and ineffectiveness” exhibited by the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in the articulation of government policies, especially on the websites created to by government ministries and agencies will give room to destructive trend of political opposition in the country whereby other information sites on the cyber super highway would be used by some self-centered opposition politicians to undermine achievements made.

Journalist Jarkloh has therefore called on the Information Ministry to wakeup from its slumber and adopt positive attitude towards achieving its role with efficiency and effectiveness.
In a press release issued recent, Jarkloh praised the independent media which he added, have been doing the jobs of the Ministry of Information. He made particular reference to the frontpageafrica, the Truth Radio and its auxiliary media outlets, the STAR Radio, the Daily OBSERVER, the NEW DEMOCRAT, The ANALYST LIBERIA and the INQUIRER when it comes to ensuring the articulation of government’s policy against corruption and other vital policies including the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Jarkloh, who is a fellow of the Panos Institute of West Africa in Senegal, Dakar said application of the emerging information communication technology (ICT) in the articulation of government policies and programs, especially the poverty reduction strategy (PRS), should be the business of the Ministries of Information and Post and Telecommunication which have all been reneging on this sacred modern responsibility. The journalist said it is disappointing to visit government oriented websites, except for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Executive Mansion websites, for the purpose of researching the government.

While praising the independent media, Mr. Jarkloh said it is disappointing that government media offices and internet pages of official Liberian websites contain no up-to-date information that will inform Liberians in the diasporas, donors and partners and friends of Liberia of the contemporary trends of development in the country.

Mr. Jarkloh observes that the performance of the Government’s public relation team spearheaded by the Ministry of Information has given room to the barrage of unwarranted criticisms which, he said, most often result from misunderstanding of the realities of government’s operation

According to the journalist who serves as Executive Officer of Information at the Embassy of Ghana said the website of the Ministries of Information, Education, Health, Public Works and the Central Banks of Liberia have no current information that will keep visitors on those sites informed of the reality of operations in these government entities.

Jarkloh, who is also managing two blogs – http://www.panwhanpen.com/ and billkjarkloh.wordpress.com, said the emerging democracy practiced under the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration and which is being given keen attention by peoples of the world will not be better portrayed to the outside world in the absence of articulate, effective and efficient public relation or public affairs activities.

As such, Mr. Jarkloh noted, the best platform of explaining government policy is not the independent press, but the websites and journals of government public affairs offices. Government websites and journals, Mr. Jarkloh noted should be sources of research of stories by independent media practitioners, and that those websites and journals and/or magazines must at all times avail to the people within and without, a regular update of happenings in government circles.

According to Journalists Jarkloh, the failure by the government ministries and agencies, especially the Ministry of Information, to ensure updating of government websites is responsible for the misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the government’s policies to the people and the outside world.

He notes with regrets that the Sirleaf Government – from the Legislative to the Executive and the Judicial Branches of government – is operating without organized public affairs mechanisms that will deliver to the people the level of coordination and independence with which they act as required by the Constitutions.

“The right to information is a matter of must and encourages massive participation of the people in the process of governance,” Mr. Jarkloh indicated. According to him, the failure of the government public affairs machinery to exert itself by interpreting government’s activities as done by the Ghanaweb and the public affairs teams of other countries will subject the Sirleaf administration to unnecessary public criticisms and its achievements will continue to be obscured as long as it operates with poor information mechanism, especially when it comes to articulating the policies of government.

“It is with regret to note that even the Liberian Legislature does not have a website on which regular legislative activities will be traced in terms of current bills and past laws that are on the books, while the judiciary has no website that will indicate its activities and achievements,” Mr. Jarkloh said.

………

Govt PR “Ineffective and Inefficient”
… Liberia Journalist Criticizes Information Ministry
A Liberian Journalist has criticized the Ministry of Information and other information and communication officers of government for their failures to update websites established on the cyber superhighway.

Journalist Bill K. Jarkloh has also criticized as “Ineffective and Inefficient” the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in the articulation of government policies as reflected on its ‘dead website”. Journalist Jarkloh has therefore called on the Information Ministry to wakeup from its slumber and adopt positive attitude towards achieving its role with efficiency and effectiveness.

In a press release issued recent, Jarkloh praised the independent media which he added, have been doing the jobs of the Ministry of Information. He made particular reference to the frontpageafrica, the Truth Radio and its auxiliary media outlets, the STAR Radio, the Daily OBSERVER, the NEW DEMOCRAT, The ANALYST LIBERIA and the INQUIRER when it comes to ensuring the articulation of government’s policy against corruption and other vital policies including the Poverty Reduction Strategy.

Jarkloh, who is a fellow of the Panos Institute of West Africa in Senegal, Dakar said application of the emerging information communication technology (ICT) in the articulation of government policies and programs, especially the poverty reduction strategy (PRS), should be the business of the Ministries of Information and Post and Telecommunication which have all been reneging on this sacred modern responsibility. The journalist said it is disappointing to visit government oriented websites, except for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Executive Mansion websites, for the purpose of researching the government.

While praising the independent media, Mr. Jarkloh said it is disappointing that government media offices and internet pages of official Liberian websites contain no up-to-date information that will inform Liberians in the diasporas, donors and partners and friends of Liberia of the contemporary trends of development in the country.
Mr. Jarkloh observes that the performance of the Government’s public relation team spearheaded by the Ministry of Information has given room to the barrage of unwarranted criticisms which, he said, most often result from misunderstanding of the realities of government’s operation

According to the journalist who serves as Executive Officer of Information at the Embassy of Ghana said the website of the Ministries of Information, Education, Health, Public Works and the Central Banks of Liberia have no current information that will keep visitors on those sites informed of the reality of operations in these government entities.

Jarkloh, who is also managing two blogs – http://www.panwhanpen.com/ and billkjarkloh.wordpress.com, said the emerging democracy practiced under the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf administration and which is being given keen attention by peoples of the world will not be better portrayed to the outside world in the absence of articulate, effective and efficient public relation or public affairs activities.

As such, Mr. Jarkloh noted, the best platform of explaining government policy is not the independent press, but the websites and journals of government public affairs offices. Government websites and journals, Mr. Jarkloh noted should be sources of research of stories by independent media practitioners, and that those websites and journals and/or magazines must at all times avail to the people within and without, a regular update of happenings in government circles.

According to Journalists Jarkloh, the failure by the government ministries and agencies, especially the Ministry of Information, to ensure updating of government websites is responsible for the misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the government’s policies to the people and the outside world.

He notes with regrets that the Sirleaf Government – from the Legislative to the Executive and the Judicial Branches of government – is operating without organized public affairs mechanisms that will deliver to the people the level of coordination and independence with which they act as required by the Constitutions. “The right to information is a matter of must and encourages massive participation of the people in the process of governance,” Mr. Jarkloh indicated.

According to him, the failure of the government public affairs machinery to exert itself by interpreting government’s activities as done by the Ghanaweb and the public affairs teams of other countries will subject the Sirleaf administration to unnecessary public criticisms and its achievements will continue to be obscured as long as it operates with poor information mechanism, especially when it comes to articulating the policies of government.

“It is with regret to note that even the Liberian Legislature does not have a website on which regular legislative activities will be traced in terms of current bills and past laws that are on the books, while the judiciary has no website that will indicate its activities and achievements,” Mr. Jarkloh said.
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