STATEMENT:

PUBLIC RELATIONS IS NOT ABOUT DISTORTING REALITY - CLARIFICATION ON

H.E THE PRESIDENT OF UGANDA’S ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON 9TH
SEPTEMBER 2018

11th September 2018

The attention of the Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) has been drawn to
some statements made by H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni during his 9th September
2018 address to the nation.

Whereas PRAU agrees with parts of the President’s assessment, as an association of

Public Relations professionals in Uganda, we are concerned that there are aspects of
the President’s statement that are a misrepresentation of the profession of Public
Relations (PR) and hence this clarification:

1. While PRAU agrees with the President when he assesses that PR should not be
about distorting reality, the association maintains that professional PR practice is in
fact NOT about distorting reality and making appearances. Therefore, when the
President describes the advice he received as “PR”, this is far from the true
definition of PR.

2. PR and or Reputation Management is simply the art of creating and managing a

shared understanding between an organisation or individual with their most
important stakeholders.

3. Whether the President needs PR or not is entirely his prerogative.

4. However, all organisations; large or small especially those organisations that have a
higher responsibility to the public, such as Government, need the communication
and PR function. Typically, the bigger the impact of an organisation/entity, the
greater the need for public relations engagement.

5. Finally, like most professions, PR has professional ethics and standards. When
professionals do not uphold these standards, the profession suffers and so do the
clients. In order to uphold the highest possible standards of professional PR and
make these standards enforceable, PRAU has been pursuing statutory recognition,
among other efforts. Once this is achieved, it shall back efforts towards holding
individual practitioners and agencies to the highest standards and call out
practitioners that provide misleading advice.


PRAU remains available for open dialogue on issues affecting the profession and
pledges to work with its national membership to uphold the highest possible standards
of professional and ethical PR Practice.

Sarah Kagingo
President, PRAU

About PRAU:
The Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) is the umbrella public relations
body of Uganda having been set up to uplift the standards in and promote the public
relations profession in the country. Membership is open to all PR and communications
practitioners, business enterprises, SMEs, government bodies, PR agencies, NGO’s,
students pursuing PR related courses and in-house PR departments.