Internet enables new form of civic engagement in Uganda

The Covid-19 pandemic recalibrated many key sectors as we know it, as well as life and work in general. The pandemic taught us in Uganda that, we should ask and redefine the purpose of the Internet but also provide a solution to new ways of equitable access. 

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have been changing the world. The increased availability of the Internet, mobile phones and other gadgets means that potentially, anyone can have access to online resources. 

In the same vein, Internet users have become bloggers and citizen journalists who use the power of social media to fact-check, argument and contribute to meaningful engagements online, through user-generated content that enables them to curate content and share among their networks. 

No matter how busy our lives are, we always find the time to scroll through our phones, take photos of ourselves, people or things around us. It only takes seconds. 

Over the past one year, a new form of online civic engagement, emerged. What started as a twitter (X) poll by Jimmy Spire Ssentongo, an academic, cartoonist and columnist, who, like many Ugandans, was frustrated by the state of the roads in the capital city, Kampala, ended up in an inaugural online exhibition with a hashtag #KampalaPotholeExhibition. 

It required anyone with access to a smart phone to take photos of potholes during their commute within the city and share them using that hashtag. The goal was to expose the extent of degradation of the roads and demand for accountability and action from those responsible. 

Despite the widespread sharing of photos showcasing the poor state of roads, the Internet was not shutdown nor social media platforms blocked like it has been done in the past, save for Facebook, which is still blocked by the Government of Uganda, since 2021. 

Subsequent online campaigns on health and the Parliament have been successfully held.  After all, the Public Order Management Act restricts public meetings and demonstrations. 

The Act seeks to prevent Ugandans from discussing the failures of government. This not only undermines public participation in decision making but also is contrary to Uganda’s Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression and assembly. Online engagement then becomes the best next alternative for civic engagement, because it does not require assembly. 

Also, the existence of a draconian law passed in 2022, that criminalises various uses of computers and digital technologies and largely curtails digital rights, did not deter many Ugandans from participating in the online exhibitions. 

One of the regressive provisions of the 2022 Computer Misuse Amendment Act, is the prohibition of the “misuse of social media”, described in clause 6 as publishing, distributing or sharing information prohibited under Uganda’s laws. 

Over the years, Ugandans learned that offline and physical campaigns and demonstrations had left many crippled, imprisoned or even dead. 

They felt safer to engage online in their private spaces, equipped with a phone or computer and the Internet at the heart of it all. 

The downside of this form of engagement is the risk of being cyberstalked, impersonated or bullied, thereby compromising one’s safety and privacy. 

This form of participatory engagement should be a premise for not only reforms but also monitoring and evaluating government projects and services. 

Do not frustrate or punish the curators of these exhibitions but rather, focus on the real issues that ordinary citizens are lamenting about. 

They pay taxes and their opinions matter. May the Government of Uganda not shut down the Internet.

Maureen Agena, Technologist | Development Communications Consultant     

Member, Internet Society of Uganda