Social Media Should Complement Government Communication, Not Replace It!

Pillar one one of Namibia’s Harambee Prosperity Plan, under the Responsible Social Media Deployment Perspective, requires the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology to develop a ‘Social Media Use Policy’ as part of the government’s overall  communication strategy.

The use of social media was meant to supplement traditional communication. 

However, a growing trend has developed among government offices, ministries, agencies, regional councils and local authorities to use Facebook and WhatsApp as primary platforms for information dissemination.

This excludes citizens who don’t have smartphones, data or stable internet from accessing relevant information.

This unintentionally furthers the digital divide because government communication should reach all citizens, not only those on certain platforms.  

The use of WhatsApp and Facebook raises security concerns regarding national sovereignty over public information, the Namibian government’s dependence on a foreign corporation for essential state functions (such as information dissemination) and puts the country at risk of policy changes, outages and/or censorship outside government control.

PROFESSIONALISM AND INTEGRITY

A local newspaper recently reported on a purported faux pas involving Namibia’s Minister of International Relations and Trade, Selma Ashipala-Musavyi. 

The minister allegedly sent a text message to her Ghanaian counterpart seeking the commissioning of Ndiyakupi Nghituwamata as Namibia’s high commissioner designate to Ghana.

Critics faulted the minister for not following diplomatic channels (written correspondence) for government-to-government communication.

Although not directly related, this incident magnifies the blurred boundaries between official government correspondence and peer-to-peer interactions.

WhatsApp and Facebook are social and informal spaces. Using them as the sole platform for official government information dissemination weakens the dignity and the authority of state communication.

Using Facebook and WhatsApp ‘officially’ can also lead to misrepresentation and a loss of context.

There are also other potential ‘faultlines’. During the Hage Geingob presidency, a regional governor in northern Namibia is alleged to have accidently shared pornographic material on an official WhatsApp group.

Using social media as official government correspondence platforms can increase the risk of the casual forwarding of messages which can prove harmful when blunders occur.

As unfortunate as it was, the reported faux pas should have served as a wake-up call on reforming government communication standards.

For democratic governance, official communication must be inclusive, sovereign, secure, verifiable and legally robust. 

This requires a return to e-mails, government websites, official gazettes, public radio and television as the primary avenue, and other secondary platforms for information dissemination which has become the trend in Namibia.

PUBLIC RELATIONS VS COMMUNICATION

Tjekero Tweya, a former minister, is adamant that the government should deploy all available resources at its disposal to ensure all citizens have access to relevant government information in order to make meaningful and informed decisions.

When Tweya launched the government’s Social Media Use Policy and Implementation Plan he clearly stated that “the use of social media in government should not be seen as a replacement of traditional media but as a complementary tool to enhance information dissemination to the public”. 

WhatsApp groups and Facebook pages are popular in Namibia. However, they hold drawbacks and limitations as far information dissemination is concerned. 

Over the past few years, we have seen the rise of Facebook pages belonging to regional governors and their offices using Facebook as the primary tool for information dissemination. 

The recently appointed regional governors are relatively young and may see Facebook as a modern tool for information dissemination.

However, their messages can become distorted and leave citizens abusing these platforms to spread misinformation among themselves, ostensibly in the name of freedom of speech. 

For its part, the need to control the narrative on government WhatsApp Groups can result in ‘information authoritarianism’, especially if public relations officers take it on themselves to act as the gatekeepers of information.

This can create the risk of blurring lines if a spokesperson’s personal attitude becomes confused with official government policy.

SAFEGUARDS

Using social media as a tool for government communication is not solely about adapting to new technology; it can give way to power without institutional safeguards. 

A spokesperson at one ministry gained a reputation as an over-zealous gate-keeper who used his authority as a group admin for the ministry’s WhatsApp group to remove members, threaten access for unfavourable reporting and/or insisting on only approved interpretations of events.

While WhatsApp may be useful for the rapid dissemination of information, if it is used by government spokespersons to police interpretation, suppress questioning and punish dissent it amounts to information authoritarianism, which is incompatible with Namibia’s constitutional democracy.

Used correctly, it plays an important role in the communication cycle.

• Vitalio Angula is a socio-political commentator and independent columnist; angulavita2021@gmail.com

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