Majaliwa tells public officials to use information officers

Mwanza. Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has told public officials to stop using private journalists and instead use government information officers to disseminate information.

 “That behaviour is unethical and dangerous to national security,” he warned.

He said it was wrong for a private individuals to handle sensitive government documents.

He was speaking on Monday, March 18, 2019, during the opening of the meeting that has brought together 400 Public Relations and Information Officers.

He warned underperforming information officers.

 “Some don’t know what ministers, permanent and other heads of public institutions do. The government won’t tolerate such information officers. They are a burden. You should change immediately; you should gather information and disseminate it for public consumption.”

He directed the Ministry of Information, Culture, Arts and Sports to furnish him with names of officials who deploy private journalists to do public work.

He directed the Tanzania Information Services to evaluate the performance of public communications officers and those who fail to deliver will be sacked.

He directed heads of government institutions to ensure communications officers inform the public accordingly instead of sitting on news.

 “Ministers and regional commissioners should ensure information officers do their work effectively.”