PM Nabbanja petitions IGP over social media trolls

Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja has petitioned the Inspector General of Police (IGP) seeking the Criminal Investigation Directorate’s intervention to contain what she described as unfair online attacks by social media users who have allegedly been sharing false, slanderous and malicious content against her.

An October 26 statement issued by the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM)’s spokesperson, Mr Charles Odongtho, indicated that Ms Nabbanja was concerned about the recent increased social media attacks on the person of the leader of government business which attacks are allegedly “deliberate smear, unfair attacks and falsified accusations.”

“Today (October 25), the Prime Minister has reported the matter to the Inspector General of Police with a view of asking the Criminal Investigations Directorate to carry out a thorough investigation, establish those behind the wide sharing of such false, slanderous and malicious content, what their motives are and ensure they face the law,” the statement reads in part.

The OPM noted that among the content to be probed is a recent viral video clip showing the Prime Minister’s lookalike celebrating with a group of men at what appears to be a public event.

Ms Nabbanja through her social media platforms has since distanced herself from the woman filmed dancing and hugging other people before she tumbled.
“While the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister has categorically denied being the lady in the video, and shrugged off the imitation as fake and a hoax, some opponents and haters, mainly through social media, for reasons best known to themselves, have gone ahead to widely spread the video with messages saying it is the Prime Minister of the Republic of Uganda,” the OPM statement adds.

 It added; “The Office of the Prime Minister reiterates that she is not the lady in the video.”
The social media attacks are allegedly masterminded by Ms Nabbanja’s haters who want to divert her from mobilization and implementation of government programmes and policies as well as fighting corruption.
"She will stick by her primary mandate, established in Article 108A of the Constitution of Uganda, and handed to her by law through the President, her only Appointing Authority,” the OPM emphasized in a Wednesday statement.

Ms Nabbanja has of recent been a subject of social media debate and attacks from a section of online users, with the most pronounced being questions about the whereabouts of Opposition National Unity Platform (NUP) supporter, John Bosco Kibalama who was allegedly kidnapped by security operatives in 2019 and has never been seen again. 
Last year, Ms Nabbanja told journalists at Parliament that Kibalama was in custody of security operatives who arrested him on allegations of attacking police officers.

The Prime Minister graduated Thursday (October 26 ) with a Masters of Arts in Monitoring and Evaluation from Nkumba University.