One would think that after her appointment to office, Billene Seyoum would maybe want to paint her new office or make some new changes. On the contrary, Ethiopia’s new Press Secretary, Billene Seyoum has no time to waste. She has hit the ground running and is already making changes in the government’s communication channels.
Billene already held her first press briefing today for local and international media representatives at the office of the Prime Minister. During the briefing, she presented two talking points to members of the media: a one page planning dashboard containing the year-long strategy of the government dubbed “Ethiopia: a New Horizon of Hope” and plans by the Press Secretariat to engage the media.
This is aimed at communicating the government’s plans and undertakings in eleven different areas to the public including: the government‘s plan to improve lack of democratic governance and weak judiciary, improve export performance, plans to contain proliferation of illegal weapons trafficking and internal displacements, as well as plans to minimize mounting external debt and improving domestic finance mobilization, among others.
The Press Secretary also announced that journalists working for media organizations which are registered under the Ethiopian Broadcasting Authority will have permanent badges issued by the secretariat to attend media events and briefings at the Prime Minister’s office. She also said that details on how to engage the media will be communicated from her office in due course.
A new twitter handle dedicated to updates from the Prime Minister’s office was also communicated by Billene from her own twitter account.
Kindly follow the Official PMO twitter account @PMEthiopia.
በትክክለኛው የጠቅላይ ምንስትር ጽ/ቤት @PMEthiopia ትዊተር ገፃችን ይከተሉን።
— Billene ቢልለኔ Aster Seyoum (@BilleneSeyoum) November 5, 2018
Billene also announced the end of the Government Communication Affairs Office (GCAO), which has been the main channel between local and international media and the government.
“We have a new structure now. The Press Secretariat has now taken over all the responsibilities of GCAO. All government communications will also be channelled through various social media outlets,” she said.
Do you think the appointment of women to top government positions is based on competency/merit or is it just to achieve gender equality?