Govt needs a communication policy

Parliament’s call for evidence in the relaunched June 10 2024 plane crash inquiry raised a social media frenzy because a fancy font was almost comically wrong.

The small typographic misadventure exposed a larger story of how the State communicates with its citizens.

Dr Ken Lipenga, a legendary writer, English scholar and ex-minister of Information, reminded us that typography is “philosophy in visual form”.

But why does the Malawi Government still have no national communication policy?

This question is not about fonts, but governance.

This means that when a ministry issues a public statement, it does so without binding guidance on tone, format, language register or visual identity.

It means that government institutions and their principals may communicate with the public using entirely different styles, fonts, and standards or no standards at all.

It means that the Government of Malawi, as a brand, does not know what it looks like.

This is a governance gap with serious consequences.

Governments are communication institutions. Every document they produce, including social media post, tells citizens something about the State’s competence, seriousness and respect for the people it serves.

 Incoherent signals erode the public trust  that institutions depend on.

Public servants are not incompetent, but professionals operating with no shared communication framework.

The result is a patchwork. Some ministries communicate well, others poorly. Some use plain language, others jargon. Some understand their audiences, others communicate with themselves.

The problem is systemic.

A few years back, then Secretary to the President and Cabinet Coleen Zamba lamented poor grammar and inconsistent style coming from government ministries, departments and agencies in official communication and reports.

Her memo tells the story, but it is just a patch. Malawi needs a national government communication policy, not pronouncements.

The policy brings coherence and answers basic but consequential questions: How does government address its citizens? What visual identity standards apply across all government communication materials? What is the protocol for crisis communication? Who speaks for government, when and through which channels? How does government communicate in Chichewa or English? To which audiences?

Countries that take governance seriously answer these questions in writing and through training because a coherent State voice builds domestic confidence and international credibility. 

Presently, we have well-run communications islands in some parastatals, ad hoc arrangements in ministries and individual communication officers left to improvise by choosing fonts, deciding on tones and writing in whatever register feels right.

Government is a brand. This may sound like corporate language imported into public administration, but branding, stripped of its commercial associations, is simply about consistency, recognition and trust.

When citizens see an official document, they should immediately know it is official. With or without the “Government of Malawi” header, it should look, read and feel as authoritative as they have come to associate with their government.

In an era of rampant misinformation, a government with no visual or tonal identity cannot be easily distinguished from those who would impersonate it.

Fake press releases, doctored documents and fraudulent official communications thrive in the absence of clear and consistent government identity markers.

Brand coherence builds institutional dignity.

Lipenga notes, with characteristic insight, that founding president Hastings Kamuzu Banda understood the performance of authority and he demanded it even in the memos.

Whatever one thinks of that era politically, institutions must show their seriousness and communicate that they are worthy of the public’s engagement.

The Ministry of Information and Communications  Technology exists not merely to regulate broadcasting or manage State media, but to steward the public communication environment of this country. That mandate includes how the government itself communicates.

The ministry should lead the development of a National Government Communication Policy to establish brand guidelines for all government entities, set standards for public-facing documents, mandate plain Chichewa and English for official communication and ensure the government speaks with one voice using recognisable register, tone and style.

Kate Kujaliwa – The author is a communications specialist.

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