By Mulengera Reporters
On Friday, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) Executive Director Hon. Nyombi Thembo was interviewed by Uganda Digital TV Team Leader Norman Tumuhimbise, an interaction during which the question of whether it will be possible for internet to remain on throughout the voting period came up.
The ED said what he was in position to answer with certainty was that his organization’s mandate, as UCC, is to ensure 24-hour availability of internet for all Ugandans, which is why they are currently not having any plans to switch it off.
“As UCC, we are hired to ensure internet availability and we can never plan shutting it down,” Nyombi Thembo said before proceeding to clarify that the decision to keep it on throughout the voting season isn’t UCC’s alone.
He spoke about stakeholders (including telecom companies, the telecom operators, the security agencies and the Executive arm of government) whose concerns and circumstances could warrant deliberate constraining of internet availability. Nyombi Thembo explained that unforeseen circumstances, capable of warranting shutting down of internet, can’t be ruled out.
He was unequivocal in stating that for now, UCC is focused at ensuring there will be internet throughout the voting period because “nobody has so far asked or required us to prepare to switch off the internet or even mobile money.”
When the interviewer pushed him with probing questions, Nyombi Thembo said: “I don’t want to speculate. We shall deal with the circumstances as they unfold and in case it ever becomes necessary to [shut down internet], we shall act as asked by our stakeholders and call you [journalists] back here to explain ourselves on what might have informed that decision.”
The UCC ED implored Ugandans to behave responsibly while using the internet during the voting period and even beyond in order to avoid creating circumstances that can potentially prompt the stakeholders to ask UCC to switch it off.
Nyombi Thembo explained that even when some Ugandans expect UCC to operate independently and very autonomously, the Commission is part of the Executive arm of government from whose head (the President or the line minister, his delegate) they are mandated to keep getting orders and directives.
He said all this is in the law and that there is nothing wrong with UCC getting orders, including those from the so-called Above. Thembo said, like all the other MDAs, UCC is under the Executive arm of government and as such, its top leadership has to be expected to keep receiving political guidance or even directives from the ICT Minister, who represents the President since what he exercises is delegated power.
Nyombi Thembo is himself a former Minister, moreover of ICT, besides the fact he currently heads UCC. He also made it clear that he never speaks or post out anything casually because he has a large formidable team of professionals, including internal Commission lawyers who he said are simply some of the best in Kampala.
Nyombi Thembo also emphasized that, much as unforeseen circumstances might arise warranting the shutting down of internet, nothing has been or has ever had to be pre-meditated by the Commission.
He called on Ugandans to understand and appreciate that UCC always acts in good faith and with a lot of restraint because, if not adequately regulated, internet-era information can easily be weaponized by rogue-minded actors to the detriment of everyone else living in that society.
He elaborated that, whereas Uganda has 21m eligible voters, not less than 20m Ugandans own and carry smart phones, implying they have access to online capabilities as their primary source of information.
He also observed that, unlike the case with the legacy media, there is barely any gatekeeping when it comes to internet online information hence the need for stringent regulation, provided its all backed up by the law. A total of 42m Ugandans have at least one sim card through which they receive and make calls and thereby obtaining or accessing information.
The interviewer, Tumuhimbise, also asked Nyombi Thembo to confirm or deny if there was a possibility for mobile money to be disabled and switched off too, under the same doctrine of necessity. The ED’s answer was that as the Commission, they don’t currently have any such plans. (For comments on this story, get back to us on 0705579994 [WhatsApp line], 0779411734 & 041 4674611 or email us at mulengeranews@gmail.com).
