By Ahmad Muto
On Thursday, August 11, 2021 while receiving Uganda’s Olympics medalists at the Kololo Independence Grounds, President Museveni emphasised that social media platform, Facebook will remain closed and Ugandans can do without it.
According to him, he learnt that for the duration it has been shut down, Uganda’s economy has thrived with its backbone, agriculture doing just fine.
“I checked the cows, are they still milking? They cows were still milking. How about the fish in the lake? They said they are there also. We can exist without Facebook,” he said.
According to Peter Ogwang, the minister for economic monitoring, the ban on Facebook will not be lifted in the foreseeable future. Ogwang, however, conceded that the country is losing billions. He said citizens must acknowledge that their national interests supersede Facebook, seven months now, still moving strong. He apologised to those businesses that have been affected, but said multinationals should acknowledge the sovereignty of states.
Meanwhile, Jacob Eyeru, the chairperson of the National Youth Council while marking International Youth Day on Thursday, August 12, 2021, a day after Museveni’s statement said their position as youth leaders has been support for the blocking of Facebook. “Why should you determine who posts what? It should be free for everyone, not free for those who are pro or anti opposition,” he said.
Facebook was shut down in Uganda early this year after accounts associated with the Government were shut down by Facebook. A statement by Facebook said the affected accounts were using fake and duplicate accounts to manage pages, comment, impersonate users and re-share posts in groups to make them appear popular.
