The political farce of the last two weeks is a stark reminder of why the government needs to consistently talk to its people and accurately inform them. Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa needs to connect more with the people and keep them updated on what she as the leader is doing.

She left for the United Kingdom on the weekend to do her duties as the chair of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and attend the Commonwealth Day celebrations. There is a government department funded by the people. This department’s role is to keep the public updated.

That has not been happening, and it needs to change. People need to be better informed and at the same time, Fiame, the cabinet and top people in the government need to engage more with the media to ensure the public is well informed.

Fiame held press conferences this month and the last but there was a time last year when she had almost zero interaction with the people of the country. As the leader of the nation, she needs to keep people informed. This lack of communication allows room for misinformation.

The government also needs to answer questions and demonstrate accountability and transparency, which are key features of any democracy. Our cabinet ministers have chosen not to talk to the media and answer questions that would show accountability, which is dangerous.

“The most important office in a democracy is the citizen”. Starting from this belief shared by many national and international leaders, we are definitely talking about an open, democratic government - an essential factor in modernising public activity.

For a government to perform its plans, projects, and goals, it must build a bridge with the citizens and involve them; this will make public policies more effective and, of course, more widely accepted by the general public. This is a moral duty of government and the main driver of public support for development cooperation.

We know very well that poorly informed citizens are less likely to be effective advocates for development partnerships. More public information is needed to be more transparent about how development funds are used, how purchases are made, and the results they achieve.

The role of the Press Secretariat is to be the agent of information between the government and its people. The media represents the people. The media will ask the hard questions for the people but this does not seem to be the case. There seems to be an attempt to control the media by choosing whichever information they want to release.

Cabinet ministers and people in office choose not to answer questions posed by the media. What is there to hide? Why is there a lack of transparency?

The people of the country deserve answers to situations, policies and incidents that impact them. When there is no transparency shown, there is no accountability. When the public is not given a clear picture, they begin to doubt the actions of the government.

Accountability and transparency are two important elements of good governance. Transparency is a powerful force that, when consistently applied, can help fight corruption, improve governance and promote accountability.

Transparency and accountability are two key elements of a healthy organisational culture. They foster trust, engagement, and performance among employees, leaders, and stakeholders.

Governments are transparent when they enable others to see and understand how they operate honestly. To achieve transparency, a government must provide information about its activities and governance to stakeholders that is accurate, complete, and made available in a timely way.

The relationship between media and government has a profound impact on the information to which the public has access. Historically, governments have relied on the media to communicate with citizens, and stakeholders around the world, ensuring that they receive the information that will shape their day-to-day decisions, from what to buy, where to live, which school to attend, and to issues surrounding their health, safety and political views.

In turn, a strong media assesses this information, analyses and instigates stimulating discussions that ensure a nation’s identity is always evolving positively and insightfully and never stifled. It also helps an economy grow by creating confidence in the market through the dissemination of knowledge that is objective and accurate information, things that form a key foundation for investment decisions.

By stifling the media, freedom of the press is no longer observed and when that happens, people lose their freedom of speech.