12 February 2021

Ugandans are celebrating the return of internet services after a shutdown was imposed ahead of the election, but social media platforms remain blocked and are only accessible using a virtual private network (VPN).

Bobi Wine, presidential candidate for the opposition National Unity Platform, alleged the poll was marred by fraud. Party’s spokesperson Joel Senyonyi accused the incumbent president of shutting down the internet to prevent them from sharing evidence of fraud.

After more than a month of targeted restrictions, Ugandan authorities, in an unprecedented move, shut down the internet in the country hours to the January 14 polls.

President Yoweri Museveni, who won an unprecedented sixth term in office, had previously accused the platforms of being biased towards his campaign.

A letter from Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), the regulator of the communications sector in the country, ordered the shutdown until further notice started circulating on social media. By this time, many users in the East African country could no longer access the internet although the complete shutdown was effected at 7pm.

“This suspension should take effect at 7pm this day of 13th January 2021 and continue until otherwise directed,” the letter signed by Irene Kaggwa Sewankambo, the acting executive director of UCC reads in part. The country’s two largest mobile networks MTN Uganda and Airtel Uganda account for the majority of the country’s 20 million internet users. It means ordinary Ugandan voters, opposition party operatives, and election observers will have fewer means of communications as the polls open on Thursday (Jan. 14).

Internet shutdowns have become a growing modus operandi by governments around the world to control the sharing of information particularly in developing countries and increasingly led in African countries. There were 35 incidents of internet shutdowns lasting longer than a week last year. Chad, Ethiopia, DR Congo and Zimbabwe are among the 19 countries that fully or partially shuttered internet access for more than seven days.