By NATION REPORTER
THE UPND national youth wing is concerned that councils are still failing to communicate adequately with the public despite having fully fledged communications and public relations units.
UPND deputy national youth chairperson in charge of politics and mobilisation Trevor Mwiinde Sialunga said the party was disturbed that local authorities have public relations officers who should be explaining the council programmes and activities but are not doing their work.
He was speaking when he featured on a special programme on Voice of Kalomo radio station on Saturday night.
Mr. Mwiinde said all councils have communication specialists (public relations officers) responsible for communicating with the public but surprisingly there is still a problem of information gap between the council and the communities they serve as people on the ground have no information.
And responding to concerns by callers who complained that the council is keeping the public in darkness over CDF and other activities, Mr Mwiinde said the complaint of luck of information from councils in many districts was clear evidence that despite councils having communication specialists, there was still a problem of information flow.
Mr. Mwiinde said it is not only the president, vice president and ministers to be explaining but council officers in districts through public relations units must be on hand to shed more light on their activities and plans to ensure people are updated on what the government is doing through the councils.
He said with decentralisation that the new dawn administration has rolled out, council communication specialists should had been equal to the task as opposed to what is happening where people are not well informed.
He said the concern of lack of information to the general public is genuine because officers who should be engaging the public are not doing so but merely getting free salaries at the expense of the public who should have been up to date with not only CDF programmes but also other government activities.
Ends.
Mr. Mwiinde said it should not take politicians to drive from Lusaka to the districts just to explain CDF activities when councils have people paid for enhancing their image, and requested the Local Government Service Commission to ensure people being recruited as council public relations officers are capable.
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