Following many botched attempts at Presidential consultations, presidential hopeful Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu alias Bobi Wine and his people power pressure group have chosen to hold the process digitally.
A google document released online by his team is aimed at consulting different Ugandans on a number of issues including patriotism, language is parliament, challenges the country is facing, and recommendations among other things.
According to Bobi Wine, he has developed the means after difficulties in consultations despite informing the electoral commission and seeking permission
“That is why we have come up with this means to reach you in the comfort of your home, or your car, and listen to what you have to say; how you want to be governed, without having to encounter the openly biased and often hostile police on the way.”
“This exercise is part of that civic duty. By taking five minutes of your busy schedule to fill out this form, you are playing a very important role in our democracy,” he adds.
People Power and Bobi Wine call on different supporters of all political parties to participate in this ‘democratic right’
“Together, we are obligated to fight for a better, fairer, and brighter future for every Ugandan: rolling up our sleeves, empowering all citizens, right from the grassroots, and organizing everywhere to take our country back from the current, clueless rulers.”
But how many people is Bobi Wine consulting?
According to the internet world statistics, there are about 13 million internet users in Uganda as of 2017.
A report from the Uganda Communications Commission last year indicated that since the introduction of the social media tax (OTT), the number of internet users fell by 5 million users.
This number, however, does not factor in the number of people using Virtual Private Networks (VPN).
On social media where Bobi Wine has advertised the consultation document, Uganda has 2.5million subscribers on Facebook (5% of Uganda’s population) and less than a million on Twitter.
Facebook accounts for 53.06% usage while twitter accounts for 14.71% usage, coming below Pinterest at 22.2% usage.
What is important to note, however, is that most of the people on Facebook and definitely on Twitter and Pinterest.
Based in Kampala
Out of the 2.5m subscribers on Facebook, 2million users are in Greater Kampala and 65% of them at universities.
Bobi Wine specifically has 1m followers on Facebook and about 300k on twitter.
How far can he consult using the internet?
Source: NP
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