2021 POLLS: Police Arrest NUP Activist Marunga & Eric for Protesting Nationwide Internet Shutdown

Prominent National Unity Platform (NUP) digital freedom activists – Hilda Marunga, Eric Adweko, together with others have reportedly been arrested by security forces in Uganda’s Capital Kampala along with several other activists for protesting the Internet shutdown in recent days.

On Wednesday 13 January 2021, the eve of Uganda’s general elections, the government ordered telecoms operators and internet service providers in the country to suspend all internet gateways until further notice. Ugandans reported difficulties accessing the internet via mobile devices and wireless connections on Wednesday evening.

Marunga was arrested at around 6:30pm after Adweko Eric at 5:45pm together with other four NUP members and they were accused of public disorder. After being detained at Najjera Police Station for four days of horror, she was released on a Police bond. Unconfirmed sources allege that her father Patrick Masamba who later took her to St. Catherine Hospital for treatment, was reportedly forced to cough shs 1 million , a matter we could not independently confirm as the others were left to fend for themselves.

Marunga and other activists were also denied a civil right of voting for their preferred candidate, NUP leader Robert Kyagulanyi in an election which saw the current Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni retain the seat.

Marunga’s family is also in copious fear after unknown men stormed her brother’s home looking for her after she had previously received anonymous calls hours before went for night prayers.

Adweko Eric was easy to get apparently as the Police had to corner his wife, a one Kevin Brenda Apio who at the time was found home and asked for the husband’s whereabouts.

Since election campaigns began in November 2020, security forces have clamped down on opposition members and journalists, violently arresting scores of people, including the presidential candidates

The authorities have similarly restricted the work of activists and civil society groups, including by blocking National Elections Watch Uganda, a coalition of local organizations, from monitoring the elections.

42% of Ugandans are internet users and 2.5 million Ugandans are active on social media and of these, 97% access social media via mobile tool devices. It should be noted that the internet has become deep-seated into the tasks that Ugandans perform each day and the internet shutdown has caused injurious effects to Uganda’s economy and livelihoods at large.

On 12 January, Umeme, Uganda’s main electricity distribution company, posted a notice on its Twitter page asking its clients to purchase adequate amounts of electricity units as its service was being interrupted by the internet speed. During the five-day lockdown, while the internet was fully shut down, Umeme customers were not able to access the prepaid service because the network wasn’t available. The other services that weren’t available because of the shutdown were the Uganda Revenue Authority portal, National Social Security Fund, banking services, medical emergency services like Rocket Health, and e-commerce services in the form of online transport services like Safeboda, Uber and Jumia.

Mobile money services came to a standstill on 14 January 2021, Election Day, as a result of lack of internet availability and poor network conditions. Media companies that facilitate journalists while in the field rely on mobile money. Journalists that were already in the field to cover the 14-16 January elections couldn’t be facilitated so they resorted to borrowing money from friends within the areas designated to them. Mobile money is a service used by almost every mobile phone user in Uganda. Uganda has about 26 million active mobile subscriptions that resonate with mobile money usage.

People routinely depend on the internet to stay in touch with family and friends, create local communities of interest, report public information, hold institutions accountable, and access and share knowledge. To that end, it can be argued that internet access cannot be distinguished from the exercise of freedom of expression and opinion.

When a complete internet shutdown occurs in a given country, the technical impact can extend beyond the country’s borders to the rest of the global internet.