The Public Relations Association of Uganda (PRAU) has celebrated 50 years since its founding, bringing practitioners, past presidents, partners and government leaders together at the Source of the Nile Hotel to honour half a century of building the public relations profession in Uganda, and to ask for the law that would protect its future.
The golden jubilee celebrations, which reached their climax on Friday, October 23, 2026, followed a summit held under the theme “Celebrating 50 years of professional excellence, and shaping the future of public relations.” PRAU was established on 22 May 1976.
PRAU President Irene Nakasiita used the moment to call for the regulation of the profession. She said the association is concerned about the number of people practising without basic minimum qualifications, a worry many members have raised with her.
“The reason we want our work to be regulated is because we see so many people practicing even without basic minimum qualifications, and many members have expressed that as a concern,” Nakasiita said.
She said the association has a professional code of conduct but no legal backing to enforce it. “We want also the PRAU bill to be established. We have a professional code of conduct which we cannot implement without a law,” she said.
At the centre of the celebrations was a tribute to the association’s roots. Nakasiita paid tribute to the late James R. Mutabaazi, who founded PRAU in 1976. His son, Dr Daniel Ruhweza, attended on his behalf and received a PRAU at 50 souvenir in recognition of his father’s contribution. Past and current presidents were also recognised, and Nakasiita explained that immediate past presidents remain on the Governing Council so that institutional memory is carried from one generation of leaders to the next.
The chief guest, Alhaji Osman Noor Ahmed, Second Deputy Prime Minister of Busoga Kingdom, urged the profession to work with cultural institutions to drive development. He said communication in a kingdom is about far more than publicity.
“Kingdom communication is essential in preserving our cultural heritage, engaging our people, promoting our development priorities, and strengthening the relationship between cultural institutions and the communities they serve,” he said.
He also challenged practitioners to build trust between institutions and the public. “Publicity may attract attention, but integrity sustains reputation. The greatest test of public relation is therefore not only how loudly an institution speaks about itself, but how confidently the people it serves can speak about it,” he said. “I urge public relations practitioners to remain guided by truth, accuracy, transparency, accountability, and respect for the public.”
He further called on the profession to embrace social media, artificial intelligence and data analytics without compromising privacy, fairness and integrity, and for stronger collaboration between PRAU, universities, government, business, civil society, the media and cultural institutions to prepare young professionals for the industry.
Media partners joined the celebration. Wilfred Seyang, Communications Manager at the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation (UBC), said the broadcaster was proud to take part. “For us, it is exciting to see that communications excels in Uganda, and that’s why we were part of this initiative to celebrate 50 years of communication in Uganda,” he said.
The anniversary programme went beyond the podium. Members toured the Bujagali Hydropower Plant, which has an installed capacity of 250 megawatts, and visited Kiira Motors Corporation to see electric bus assembly, in visits led by Immediate Past Presidents Tina Wamala and Cynthia Mpanga. The celebrations also featured the launch of The State of the PR Profession in Uganda, a desk research-based point of view prepared by Ipsos Uganda.
The 10th PRAU Excellence Awards crowned the jubilee celebrations, recognising agencies, organisations and communicators for strategic communication and campaign management. Pearl Bank took the PR Crown Jewel Award for the best overall campaign. Lead judge Dr Patricia Litho said the panel assessed more than 44 entries and encouraged practitioners to move from measuring what they did to demonstrating what changed, with baselines, evaluation and verifiable evidence. Nakasiita added that every award went through set criteria, panel assessment and validation by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).
The celebrations were supported by sponsors and partners that included Parliament of Uganda, Bank of Uganda, Pearl Bank, Uganda Revenue Authority and Stanbic Bank, alongside media partners that included Business Times.
As PRAU steps into its next 50 years, the message from Jinja was clear. The profession’s future rests on credibility, qualified practitioners and the legal framework to uphold its standards.
