WHAT MUST FR. LOKODO DO TO TAME GROWING NUDITY?

It’s increasingly becoming hard to fathom what Ethics & Integrity Minister Simon Lokodo (Fr) must do to win the war against nudity and generally perverse sex conduct in Uganda. Besides homosexuality that remains a big problem in the Ugandan schools and colleges, notwithstanding the public intolerance towards the same, there have lately been growing cases of nudity and celebs getting their nude images leaked into the public domain mostly via social media.

In the last two months alone counting from May, the man of God Lokodo has almost lost his breath as the craze of leaked celeb nude photos spread and gripped Kampala’s social media audiences like a bush fire.  First were Supreme Mufti’s daughter Shawula Kasule’s nudes leaking on 30^th May, followed by those of comedienne Martha Kay on 31^st May, then Pauline Kisa’s and more recently those of Winfred Nampeera.

On Sunday 7^th July, Nampeera’s nudes popped up on various social media networking sites yet her whereabouts remain unknown. She remains incognito. Nampeera was first indicted in similar conduct in 2016 prompting authorities to intensify hunt for her to answer for the nudes and several other offences related to scandalous sex conduct. Naturally the latest provocation, manifested in fresh nudes’ leakage, only make things more complicated for otherwise very daring Nampeera.

Are these latest nudes originating from her directly or from a jilted lover is the question many social media users are asking. Inability to adequately control social media and rein errant users remains a huge task for Lokodo’s Ethics & Integrity Ministry. Whereas its easier to control those (like professional bloggers) operating in the regulated space, and therefore requiring licensing, authorization and approval of UCC to operate, the majority social media users are increasingly becoming hard to control.

A few years back, Fr. Lokodo threatened to arrest singer Desire Luzinda of the Ekitone fame after her nudes leaked and went viral but Lokodo had to eat a humble pie after the much-sought celebrity remained elusive, provocative and unrepentant. Desire whose leaked nudes was a pioneering act, believed to have inspired many subsequent leaks, wore a bold face and argued she wasn’t culpable since the nudes had been leaked by her boyfriend and not herself.

Not one to easily relent, Fr. Lokodo in 2014 ordered for the arrest of 2 Makerere students whose cozy love-making photos leaked on social media and went viral. He argued this had tainted the image and integrity of the University and the country at large insisting the culprits must be severely sanctioned. He called the students a public nuisance and vowed to use his mandate and crack the whip on them.

Despite all these efforts by Lokodo to stand up to what himself and the larger public perceive to be abominable, the nude leaks have only escalated. Not even the much-dreaded anti-pornography committee has so far succeeded and getting hold on anyone accused of propagating the much-resented nudity-they have been elusive most of the time taking cover of the inadequately regulated social media usage. But this doesn’t make Nampeera safer because upon being apprehended, she will have to answer as to why she became such a public nuisance in addition to earlier lesbian allegations that have made her and others culpable for sanction by police, the much-funded anti-pornography committee and many others still at large.