"New media, and the knowledge feast it has engendered, offers us the opportunity to brand our continent appropriately, to establish a different narrative of our beautiful continent. Today, just armed with a smartphone, one can tell the story of Africa, the story of our community, the story of our family to millions across the world", he said.

The National Democratic Congress flagbearer said this at the Annual African Public Relations Conference in Kigali, Rwanda.

“Positive engagements such as this conference, in which we tell our story and supported by the professional practitioners like you should help with improving the advocacy and changing the narrative about Africa.".

“We can best tell our stories when we gain control over ourselves; when we ground our identities in a sense of pride of who we are and where we have come from."

The three-day conference which opened today is on the theme: “Africa and storytelling, changing the narratives” and will discuss among others, new trends in Public Relations, the influence of New Media and Technology on the practice of Public Relations.

The former president also said, "We need to evaluate the stories out there about us, and who has had the power to tell our story while that person tells his or her own story too.

“We Africans have tongues in our mouths; let us also tell our own stories.”