A couple of days before what is expected to be a tense Election Day, Uganda has announced its decision to shut down social media and messaging apps in the country. This, among several other crackdowns, goes in line with a massive wave of intimidation and repression against the opposition party and its supporters ahead of the hotly contested polls.
Announcing this on Tuesday, President Yoweri Museveni, one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders, revealed that the decision to shut down social media mere days before the country heads to the polls was borne out of perceived bias and arrogance on the part of the platforms involved. While apologising for the inconvenience this decision would cause, Museveni further accused Facebook, specifically, of removing accounts linked to his re-election campaign.
“That social channel you are talking about, if it is going to operate in Uganda, it should be used equitably by everybody who wants to use it,” Museveni said of Facebook in a national address on Tuesday. “If you want to take sides against the [ruling party], then that group will not operate in Uganda.”
According to a letter addressed to internet service providers in the country and obtained by Reuters, Uganda’s communications regulator ordered for social media platforms and messaging apps to be blocked until further notice. Some of the platforms listed include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Instagram, Skype, Snapchat, Viber, and Google Play Store among others.
In its defence, Facebook stated that it had taken down a network linked to Uganda’s Ministry of Information after it had used fake and duplicate accounts to post ahead of the elections.
Opposition Continues To Lament About Oppression
Opposition parties in Uganda have continued to call out Museveni’s government for alleged attacks that have resulted in the injury and death of several people.
Recently, popular singer and opposition frontrunner, Bobi Wine, accused soldiers of raiding his home in Kampala, arresting his guards, and also shooting one of his team members to death overnight. Similarly, Sharon Kemigisha, a member of Wine’s party, also related her fears to the Washington Post, saying, “We’ve lost friends, colleagues. We’ve buried them.”
The election is scheduled to hold on January 14th following previous postponements as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
