What is Happening in Uganda?
All access to social media and messaging apps in Uganda has been shut down against the upcoming presidential election scheduled to hold on the 14th of January, 2021.
Yes, you read that right. Their social media was turned off…just like a lightbulb switch. We thought the craziness would end with 2020, but it’s been only 13 days in 2021 and it’s been a rollercoaster already.
Well, without further ado, let’s get into the nitty gritties of this gist.
On Tuesday, 76-year-old President Yoweri Museveni ordered that access to social media in Uganda be cut off after openly accusing Facebook of opposing the ruling party against the upcoming presidential election. He iterated that Facebook had embarked on a mass removal of several accounts linked to his campaign for reelection. He said because of this move by Facebook, banning the platform was necessary.
In the national address, President Museveni said, “If you want to take sides against the (ruling party), then that group will not operate in Uganda. We cannot tolerate this arrogance of anybody coming to decide for us who is good and who is bad.”
Image Source: Twitter
In Facebook’s defense, they had claimed to have only brought down a few accounts tied to Uganda’s Ministry of Information that “used fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment on other people’s content, impersonate users, re-share posts in groups to make them appear more popular than they were.”
Since they were officially cut off, Facebook has said nothing.
But here’s where it gets extra interesting.
Twitter was also banned for the same reasons. But they didn’t stay quiet;
“We strongly condemn internet shutdowns – they are hugely harmful, violate basic human rights and the principles of the #OpenInternet.
Access to information and freedom of expression, including the public conversation on Twitter, is never more important than during democratic processes, particularly elections.”
This statement didn’t sit well with quite a number of Twitter users as they felt it was very hypocritical, given that Twitter had recently suspended President Trump’s account, in a bid to silence him.
For a bit of context, President Museveni has ruled the East African country for a solid 35 years (since 1986) and still sees no reason why he should, I don’t know, step down? I mean, that should be a logical course of action, but then African governments and logic have been sworn enemies for the longest time.
But Uganda youths have refused to let another presidential election declare Museveni the winner, again. Popular singer and opposition lawmaker, Kyagulanyi Ssentamu Robert, popularly known as Bobi Wine stood up to the task as a presidential aspirant. The 38-year old is a favorite among the youths and has been using social media strategically in his campaigns (since most of the traditional media outlets are government-owned and have refused to host him).
Image Source: Twitter
Opposing Museveni has not been fun and games, at all. Many opposition protesters have been arrested, assaulted, and even killed while those campaigning for the ruling party are left to go on their merry way. Bobi Wine himself has been arrested more times than is normal. And as he said in an address, ‘Standing against General Museveni is a more dangerous crime than any crime we know here in Uganda.’
Currently, a few Ugandans have found a way to access the internet – using VPNs – and they have been trending the hashtags #WeAreRemovingADictator and #RedPearl to bring more awareness to the situation. A few other African countries, like Nigeria, have joined in their fight to unseat an unyielding dictator.
Image Source: Twitter
The International Press Institute, a global media watchdog, has issued a statement calling on the state of Uganda to restore the people’s access to social media. As the statement said, “Any efforts to block online access to journalists or members of the public are unacceptable breaches of the right to information,” and we wholeheartedly agree.
Fingers crossed for the Republic of Uganda.
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