Public relations association pushes for legal recognition

The Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) has said it will take advantage of the forthcoming Public Relations Symposium to push for legal recognition.
While signing a media sponsorship deal with the Nation Media Group Uganda (NMG-U) for the upcoming conference, Mr Stephen Mwanje, the association president, said they have laid strategies of institutionalisng the association through a draft Bill to enable them operate as a legal entity with statutory recognition.

The aim is for the association to be more visible and to offer professional services to its members.
“When we came into the council, we laid strategies of institutionalising the association so that it has statutory recognition to start training its members and non-members through short courses that bridge the gap between lecture rooms and the working environment,” he said yesterday.

The essence of the proposed Bill is to enable them to standardise the organisation’s professional operations.
Mr Mwanje explained that they will use the symposium themed ‘Public Relations in Shaping the Future of Organisations,’ which will take place on April 29 at Hotel Africana in Kampala to streamline the operations of the industry.
They will also discuss some of the proposals in the draft Bill and consult key players in the public relations and media industry before lobbying for its tabling in Parliament. 
The 1995 Constitution enacted the Press and Journalists Act to establish the Media Council, which was supposed to set up the National Institution of Journalists in Uganda (NIJU) to regulate media practice in the country. But NIJU has never taken off.
 
ICT Minister Dr Chris Baryomunsi is expected to be the guest of honour at the event while the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Ramathan Ggoobi, will be the keynote speaker. 
Other speakers lined up for the one-day event include Mr Etsuko Tsugihara, the president of International Public Relations Association, and Mr Maxim Behar, the chairperson of the London-based International Communication Consultancy Organisation.

NMG-U is the exclusive media partner, which is handling the publicity of the event, which has attracted sponsorship from more than15 top corporate institutions in the country. 
Ms Elizabeth Namaganda, the NMG-U marketing manager, welcomed the partnership, saying quite often company platforms; NTV, Daily Monitor, KFM, Dembe FM and  the East African newspaper have been used to communicate their brands and pass on information to their audiences.

“You realise that as the digital space opens up to many practitioners, information is fast and readily available at any time, which has significantly improved brand and customer relations,” she said.
The symposium is expected to attract all public relations communication practitioners, chief executive officers, and journalists, academia, marketers and journalism and communication students.
JUSTIFICATION
The Public Relations Association of Uganda, which boasts of 46 years of existence, does not have the regulatory framework to provide oversight to its members as is the case with professional bodies such as that of architects, engineers, nurses and lawyers.