The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) has revealed government is holding talks with Facebook on how the social media giant can resume its operations in the country.
“There have been all sorts of speculation in regards to why Facebook is still off,” said UCC Executive Director, Eng Irene Kaggwa Ssewankambo.
“There have been discussions between Facebook and the government to see how best this service can be used in the country,” she said.
Eng Kaggwa made the remarks while appearing on NBS TV on Monday night.
On January 12, 2021, just two days to Presidential and Parliamentary elections, Government shut down social media with to curtail the rapid circulation of fake news.
This was after Facebook disabled accounts of President Museveni’s supporters, saying they were involved in inappropriate activity aimed at manipulating public debate ahead of 2021 elections.
“We found this network to be linked to the Government Citizens Interaction Center at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology in Uganda,” said Facebook.
However, President Museveni slammed Facebook’s hypocrisy on free speech, saying it should either allow all Ugandans to use the platforms “equitably” or quit the East African country’s market.
“I am very sorry for the inconvenience to those who have been using this channel (Facebook), but we cannot tolerate this arrogance of anybody coming to decide for us who is good and who is bad,” said Museveni in a televised national address.
“There is no way anybody can come and play around with our country to decide who is good and bad,” he emphasised.
Facebook boasts about 3 million users in Uganda.
The country has a total of 18.5 million internet users, according to the statistics published Internet World Stats on behalf of Miniwatts Marketing Group.
While government later restored social media platforms, Facebook remains inaccessible in Uganda unless one uses VPN.
SIGNIFICANCE OF ICTs TO VARIOUS SECTORS
Eng Kaggwa said ICTs create solutions to challenges affecting the society, giving the example of people with disabilities receiving specialized ICT equipment from UCC.
“Next month we have the Girls in ICT Day. We also have a program called Coding in Heels. These are aimed at getting the girls interested in the sector,” said Kaggwa.
She further noted that UCC provides training to teachers so that they can teach students to use various devices and embrace ICT.
“We have been running a program where we provide 40 computers to government-aided secondary schools around the country. You want to make sure that ICTs bring benefits to everyone across the country. At UCC, we set out to see that everyone across the country enjoys ICT services,” she added.
UCC has previously been criticized for high handedness in dealing with broadcast media.
However, Kaggwa said, “UCC is not only about switching off radios and TVs that breach minimum broadcasting standards, but also improving the use of ICTs in the country.”
Photo: UCC Executive Director, Mrs Irene Kaggwa Ssewankambo appearing on NBS TV on Monday.
