How Kato Lubwama and Nsamba Quraishi changed my career path to public relations

COMMENT  | DAVID BIRUNGI |  Last week, the custodians of reputation management and corporate communication convened at Hotel African, and online, to reflect on the practice and the profession of Public Relations. It was organized under the theme The Role of Public Relations in Driving Organization’s Performance.

Many of my industry colleagues in the room were former journalists doing an amazing job of building and defending reputations of organisations. Then there is many of us who never stepped in journalism school. The reasons we joined the profession are as varied as our responses, on camera, to hard questions we face every day.

This year’s symposium found me chasing the envelop and I couldn’t attend in person. I kept asking myself ‘how did I end up here’, trading in perceptions not numbers.

The people who drove me into public relations are both gone, probably in a better place than me. Hon. Kato Lubwama and Nsamba Quraishi. My brief interactions with both of them left an indelible mark on my career. Both worked in the media and they loved and delivered on their work. Being a novice in public affairs management, I had been, under strict supervision, to a few newsrooms and studios. I couldn’t be trusted with a message to the public, alone.

What I lacked in public speaking, presentation and storytelling I compensated with an eye for detail and operational efficiency. That’s what I thought was important. I was wrong and that’s where the foundation for public relations comes in. The successful stories need to be framed and told to the right audiences at the right time.

Hon Kato Lubwama was, along with Hajj Abbey Mukibi and Abu Kawenja, a long-time presenter of the award-winning CBS 88.8 kalisoliso program in the morning.

Nsamba Quraishi was a reporter with Bukedde TV for the area. He was so good at his craft that he had a story aired almost daily in their signature 10:00pm “Agataliko Nfuffu” news bulletin. These programs were, and remain so popular to this day.

Me, on the other hand, I was the district manager in the service of electricity in the territory both served. It was a convergence of interests. I wanted to be the best operations guru there could be in Utilities management. I owed them good service since they were also customers. These two good fellows changed that.

“How can you sit and belch in an Air-conditioned office while people, who have come to pay you are lining outside in the scotching sun?” Kato Lubwama’s hasky voice would shatter through the 7:35am CBS airwaves. He carried this on for no less than a month of “bad” press. That’s how I saw it. I thought it was about me. I represented an organisation, and I owed a duty to the public.

I worked to improve service delivery, negotiate wins for the community and Hon Kato Lubwama. I was later to reap his generosity when, as an MP, he used his position to support my PR work.

“Honorable, we are meeting in Hon Munyagwa’s office and I need your support”

“Kanzigye” “Let me come” he said reassuringly. I had called him to introduce me to his colleague and to ask them both to support my PR work in their urban constituencies.

Hon Lubwama gladly introduced me to the Chairman of COSASE and gave me a kind review. May his soul rest in peace.

The late Nsamba on the other hand, had a good grip on local human-interest stories which form a basis for public relations narrative framing. My initial interactions with him were my bad attempts to kill stories I didn’t want out. To his credit, he always wanted my comment, on camera. He sought fairness and balance. I didn’t like how it all ended up in Agataliko Nfufu bulletin, but I learned how media works. I also started suiting up.

All these events changed the way I looked at organisations’ purpose. I understood that it is not enough to build grand things, solve complex problems and aim for the stars.

The turning point was when Hon Judith Nabakooba and Afande Felix Kawesi (RIP) separately threatened to arrest me for demonstrations in my territory. The demonstrations were against loadshedding because Bujagali dam was delayed by over 6months. I bought my freedom with a compelling narrative of why the country was in that situation and why arresting me would never put power in the sockets.

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 Birungi is Head of PR and Corporate Communications at Airtel Uganda