Uganda has fully restored the internet and all social media services that were shut down a few days to the 2021 elections.
The government of Uganda has restored the internet and all social media services that were shut down a few days to the 2021 presidential elections.
The news concerning the restoration of the internet was announced by the state minister for information, communication technology and national guidance Hon. Peter Ogwang.
“Internet and social media services have been fully restored. We apologize for the inconveniences caused,” Ogwang tweeted.
The minister added that the reason to as the internet and social media was shut down was for the security of our country and he urged the people of Uganda to be constructive not be destructive.
“But it was for the security of our country. Let’s be constructive, not destructive,” the minister added.
Uganda suffered an internet blackout on an eve of the presidential elections which the opposition is terming as rigged election and have challenged them in court but the restoration of social media comes a few days after security forces announced dozens of arrests for election-related violence.
After the presidential elections in which the long term leader Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was declared the winner with 58.6 per cent securing his sixth term, part of the internet was restored but Ugandans still could not access social media platforms unless one uses a virtual private network commonly known as VPN.
The security forces said the reason to why they had restored part of the internet minus social media was because they were still evaluating the situation before making a final decision.
It should be remembered that immediately after elections the National Unity Platform President Kyagulanyi Sentamu was put under house arrest and in a way, this scared the security forces since they thought that supporters of the arrested presidential candidate we’re going to uses the platforms in inciting people to go on to the streets.
On November 18th 2020 more than 50 Ugandans were killed after the arrest of Kyagulanyi in Luuka district and the police believe this was because of the incitement that came from social media users especially from those of the National Unity Platform.
However, it should be noted the list of the killed Ugandans during the 18th November riots in Kampala were Ugandans that were hit by stray bullets and the president promised an investigation into the matter.
Let’s hope this time around the government acts differently and releases the reports concerning last year bullet reports.
