This is why the Ugandan web is currently in turmoil and their internet has been shut down.
Yoweri Museveni is not backing down without a fight and as Ugandans prepare for the presidential elections the atmosphere in Uganda is quite sour. It’s been decades since anyone challenged Yoweri but Bobi Wine continues to grow popularity across various parts of Uganda. The question is, can Museveni allow people to have a free and fair elections.
Facebook decided to get involved.
Facebook has been quite involved whenever it comes to ensuring that people don’t cause any online problems. It’s quite common for people to spread false information, hate speech and basically spread information that indoctrinates people and spread propaganda. In an effort to stop misinformation being spread, Facebook suspended accounts that belonged to Ugandan government officials.
Facebook stated that the government officials were responsible for manipulating public debated and tried controlling the elections outcome. One government official who was accused and denied the accusations was Don Wanyama, President Museveni’s press secretary who tweeted and claimed that people were against Yoweri and that he wouldn’t allow it.
There seems to be a group of online gurus who are creating accounts online that have been impersonating users and re-sharing posts in groups to make them appear more popular. Currently the Ugandan government has ordered the Ugandan Internet Service Providers operating in the country to shutdown all social media platforms. This means that Ugandans do not have access to all apps on their app stores.
Ugandans confirmed that Facebook had been revoked and that the ISPs slowed down internet access and their mobile coverage doesn’t work. Even though international governments, the UN and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have condemned the action the Ugandan government is still not complying
But just when that seemed enough, it now seems like the whole internet apparently been shut down. According to certain users, it is even impossible to navigate through any site even when using a VPN (Virtual Private Network).
People already suspect that the electoral process has been tampered with since the Biometric voter verification kit have suddenly stopped working. This has forced various polling stations across the country to pause the process, leaving queues of voters to get longer and longer by the hour.
As it stands, it is not well for a day that many citizens of the country probably anticipated to practice their democratic right. What this sequence of events is likely to cause is more anxiety not just today but as long as the internet remains out of reach for the people in the country. This is mainly because many will most likely not be able to vote and others will not be able to access information around the process.