Police use SMS to frustrate opposition protests
By Sharon Tibenda
14th March 2011
The Uganda Police Force has embraced modern ICT as an avenue through which to pre-emptively demobilise ordinary Ugandans from joining opposition activists in anti-government protests.
Over a course of two days last week when opposition leaders tried to launch pro-democracy protests across the country, the police responded by sending out messages to the public using short message service (SMS) urging people to keep away from the protests that took place in parts of Kampala like Kisekka Market on Wednesday 19th March.
The SMS, one of which landed in this reporter’s phone inbox, said, “…Police are urging Ugandans to be calm because the situation has normalised after demonstrations at Kisekka Market”. As far as we could tell, this is the first time Police Force has used SMS to dissuade ordinary civilians from joining demonstrations and protests in Uganda.
Uganda Police Deputy Spokesperson Vincent Ssekate confirmed that the messages were sent by them with the aim of keeping the general public away from acts of violence. “…We know some of these people have been using SMS to incite violence. Therefore we have also decided to use it to counteract”, he said
During the just concluded general elections, President Museveni also used SMS and other media to woo voters into voting for him. It is now an open secret that social media played a vital role mobilising people to join anti-establishment protests in countries like Egypt and Tunisia.
Following last Wednesday’s opposition protests, an estimated eight people were arrested. END. Please log into www.ugandacorrespondent.com every Monday to read our top stories and anytime mid-week for our news updates.
