One Kiprotich is better than 100 PR firms
By Norman Miwambo
20th Aug 2012: It was a splendid performance by Stephen Kiprotich, who clocked 2:08.01 to win the Gold medal ahead of Kenya’s Abel Kirui and Wilson Kipsang who managed 2:08.27 and 2:09.37 to win silver and Bronze respectively.
The Olympic gold medal had eluded Uganda for 40 years. It was therefore inevitable that Kiprotich’s victory would generate great headlines for the country – far better than any of the PR firms that are paid millions of dollars have ever managed.
Kiprotich’s victory has therefore sent a clear message to all those who are in the unenviable business of trying to paint a holy image of an autocratic regime – and the message is:
Investing more in sports is better than spending huge sums of dollars to pay people like Rosa Whitaker – President and CEO of the Washington-based Whitaker Group which has done some PR work for Museveni’s government in the past.
It is not the amount of money paid to foreign individuals that makes the image of a country like Uganda better. Rather, it is the services that a sitting government delivers to its people that up-lifts their spirits and spurs them on to make even greater sacrifices and perform better.
The government should therefore revisit its priorities and start investing in talented young people – because there are very many out there in the rural and urban areas of Uganda, in schools, colleges, and universities. Their only undoing is that the government has never given them the opportunity to develop their talents.
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