Uganda seeks to register online bloggers ahead of election

 Authorities in Uganda say bloggers and ors publishing or brocasting online must register with authorities, drawing criticism from some who see it as an attack on free speech ahe of next year's election.

Uganda Communications Commission in a statement on Monday said bloggers and online news sites must seek necessary authorization with it by Oct. 5.

A spokesman for agency told Associated Press on Tuesday that directive was provoked in part by “an avalanche of people interested in opening online media.”

“We know that if se tools are misused, y can le to trouble,” Ibrahim Bbosa said of social media.

With election campaigning effectively banned by orders aimed at stopping spre of coronavirus, Uganda’s social media scene has become even more vibrant in recent months.

election pits a longtime president with a youthful opponent in a reflection of generation gap seen across much of Africa. About 17 million of Uganda’s mostly youthful population of 41 million are active internet users, according to government figures.

Ugandan authorities in recent years have been accused of trying to suppress online activities, including by imposing a tax targeting social media users that has been in force since July 2018. tax is charged daily to access all social media websites and apps.

Amnesty International has urged Ugandan authorities to scrap unpopular tax, calling it “a clear attempt to undermine right to freedom of expression” in this East African country.

Such a tax was first proposed by President Yoweri Museveni, who once complained about online gossip in a letter urging finance minister to raise money “to cope with consequences.”

Museveni, who has held power since 1986, is up for re-election next year. He faces youthful opposition lawmaker and singer known as Bobi Wine, who has urged president to retire peacefully.

A government minister, a member of ruling party, was criminally charged this week after a video of him grabbing a gun in an apparent fit of rage during local elections was shared many times on Twitter and elsewhere. And a ruling party lawmaker apologized this month after footage of him ordering corporal punishment of a utility worker was published on social media.

Social media “affects autocratic tendencies,” said Nicholas Sengoba, an independent analyst and columnist with local Daily Monitor newspaper. “We are at a very vital and critical moment where it threatens legitimacy of government and even of state.”

While Uganda's government previously has shut down newspapers whose work it found offensive, social media has proved more challenging to control, he said.

new registration order shows “repression of free expression is on steroids," Charles Onyango-Obbo, a former editor of newspapers in Uganda and Kenya, said on Twitter.