Dr. Toni Aubynn, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Chamber of Mines, has appealed to the Institute of Public Relations (IPR) Ghana, to deploy research and analysis, policy formulation, programming, communication and feedback as tools to engage government on national issues.

He expressed the hope that such engagements would not only make IPR “visible” but relevant to sustaining the country’s economic growth and national development.

Dr. Aubynn was speaking at the second in series of public lectures organised by IPR as part of activities to mark 40th anniversary celebration of the Institute.

The theme for the anniversary celebration is “IPR at 40: Consolidating the Image of Ghana as a Peaceful and Democratic Nation”.

Other activities include a Presidential luncheon, awards and dinner night.

He spoke on theme: “The Role of Public Relations in Sustainable Economic Growth and National Development” and suggested that IPR could contribute to public discourse and state its professional position on national issues such as the much-debated single-digit inflation and use of intemperate language.

He expressed worry that successive opposition political parties had “damned” the issue of inflation, making it appear as if achieving single-digit inflation meant that prices of goods necessarily had to go down.

Dr. Aubynn described the situation as worrying and said “When inflation goes down, it does not necessarily mean that prices of goods had gone down, but rather it means that the rate at which prices are shooting up, is relatively slow”.

On pockets of simmering tension in the country, he condemned what he described as “machosmic posture” taken by some politicians belonging to the two major political parties in the country, whose hard and misguided attitude and pronouncements threatened the peace of Ghana’s democratic credentials and peaceful process.

Dr. Aubynn called on the citizenry to contribute towards consolidating Ghana’s socio-economic and political gains.

He cautioned public relations practitioners against slipping into gimmickry and to avoid being used for political paroquial interest.

Dr. Aubynn suggested that IPR could seek support from the Business Advocacy (BUSAC) Fund to organise training to hone out the skills of practitioners.**