The Ugandan government has disrupted internet connectivity
in the East African nation ahead of Thursday’s presidential election.
NetBlocks, an internet monitoring organization, reported a national-scale interference on Tuesday.
The Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) said the move was
“to mitigate the rapid spread of misinformation”.
Implementation began at 18:00 local time but the UCC did not
say when the blackout would be lifted.
Voice calls and basic SMS services are expected to remain
operational.
NetBlocks said the measure would likely limit transparency
and increase the risk of vote fraud.
Thursday’s election is a rematch of the 2021 contest between
President Yoweri Museveni, 81; and 43-year-old Bobi Wine, a former pop star
whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi.
Museveni, who is seeking a seventh consecutive term, is
expected to prolong his 40-year hold on the saddle. He is among Africa’s
longest serving leaders.
While there are six other candidates, Museveni and Wine are
regarded as frontrunners.
Ugandan security personnel have rounded up hundreds of
opposition supporters ahead of the vote, while repeatedly firing live
ammunition and tear gas at pro-Wine campaign rallies.
A handful of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and
journalism institutions have also been suspended over “threats to national
security”.
Some of the suspended organisations include the African
Centre for media excellence, Agora Centre for research, National coalition of
human rights defenders, Alliance for Finance Monitoring, Centre for
constitutional governance, Human rights network for journalists, Uganda
National NGO Forum, Network of Public Interest Lawyers, and the African Centre
for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims.
The crackdown mimics the patterns in Tanzania’s October
presidential elections where authorities restricted internet access and
declared a curfew following deadly protests over the outcome of the poll.
The United Nations Human Rights Office has criticised Uganda
authorities for creating an environment of “widespread repression and
intimidation” before the vote.
Meanwhile, former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan
arrived in Uganda over the weekend, leading a team of election observers from
the African Union (AU), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA), and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), ahead of
the vote.
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