By Ahmad Muto
For going against the popular online narrative on extortion allegations at the Entebbe International Airport last week, comedian Patrick ‘Idringi’ Salvador received a lot of vitriol from the online community.
On Twitter he wrote: “One thing I can say is that I have never encountered any hindrance at the airport in my life. I believe there are some very good people and professional Uganda Civil Aviation Authority (UCAA) staff who are honest and doing a good job. It is unfortunate that the few rotten ones are tarnishing the name of all.”
The online community deliberately or otherwise failed to make sense of his tweet, evoking that fact that he is an influencer for a domestic aviation service provider, BAR Airline and the Uganda Airlines, so was defending those that butter his bread.
On Saturday, January 21, 2023, after taking in enough, Salvador hit back: “On these streets I’ve become immune to insults, trolls, abuses and most importantly stupidity that’s mistaken for logic or intelligence … Buli omu mugezi on Twitter.”
And, Salvador’s Twitter timeline is filled with tweets praising the Uganda Airlines, from the pilots, cabin crew to the planes dating as far back as 2019.
UCAA put out a statement last week absolving itself of the acts of extortion. They also stated that while they work with partners in immigration and handling services, cases that have been reported in the past were dealt with; some people fired, suspended others’ access to the airport revoked.
