Speaker of Parliament Anita Among, Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja, Inspector General of Government Beti Kamya and The Chief Executive Officer of Uganda Airlines Jenifer Bamuturaki have been in the spotlight this year. Some of these women have openly complained about being bullied or treated unfairly namely Nabbanja and her exchanges with Kira Municipality MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda while others have been ridiculed following their engagements with mainly the parliamentary committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises-COSASE over corruption and mismanagement claims.
Do these women have the spine for harsh criticism or they are simply easy targets for bullies within parliament, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and TikTok?
What have they done to cope with the criticism, bullying or unflattering light?
Let’s focus on Speaker Anita Among.
In February, Mityana Municipality MP, Francis Zaake was accused of questioning Among’s integrity and intellectual capabilities on his Facebook and Twitter accounts. This was after Among, who was the Deputy Speaker at the time, said that Zaake won a gold medal at the 2021 East African Legislative Games held in Arusha even though he had previously claimed that he had suffered injuries sustained from being tortured by state agents.
Bardege-Layibi Division MP, Ojara Mapenduzi later urged parliament to institute disciplinary actions against Zaake. Among who was the presiding officer of the plenary session referred the matter to the parliamentary committee on Rules, Privileges and Discipline. The committee chaired by Bugweri County MP Abdu Katuntu found Zaake guilty of insulting Among, contrary to the Parliament’s Rules of Procedure and Code of Conduct.
Rukiga County MP, Roland Ndyomugyenyi moved to amend the committee’s recommendations, saying Zaake was unfit to serve on the Parliamentary Commission. He was later removed as a parliamentary commissioner.
Before Among had settled in as the Speaker of Parliament, following the demise of Speaker Jacob Oulanyah in March, journalist Agather Atuhaire of Civic Space TV broke the story of how parliament bought “two luxury vehicles for Among and her deputy Thomas Tayebwa” without following public procurement procedures in April. Atuhaire broke the news on her social media accounts, saying parliament spent over Uganda shillings 2billion to buy these cars.
In June, Atuhaire noted that her life was in danger because she broke the story.
However, the spokesperson for Parliament of Uganda, Chris Obore, dismissed Atuhaire’s claims. He said that “she was simply seeking for attention”.
On July 23, the Daily Monitor run an article titled “Police Want Parliament Staff punished over car deal leak”. In this article, Charles Twiine the Deputy Parliamentary Criminal Investigations Department boss is said to have advanced the idea of punishing one staff member and close monitoring of two others for allegedly leaking the procurement details to Atuhaire. Twiine’s team is said to have commenced investigations into the matter after the Clerk to Parliament Adolf Mwesigye lodged a complaint of sharing confidential documents to unauthorized persons.
Atuhaire insisted on disclosing the information as a matter of public interest.
When Parliament passed the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act,2022 in September, human rights activists namely Michael Aboneka of Thomas and Michael Advocates say the law is targeting journalists like Atuhaire.
So when news broke out that President Yoweri Museveni had assented to the Computer Misuse Amendment Act,2022 on October 13, many people came out to say the law will shield public officers from criticism.
The public is thereby divided about provisions of this law. The amendments moved by a private member Kampala Central MP Muhammad Nsereko, ban writing, sending or sharing unsolicited, malicious, hateful and misleading information online.
Nsereko says there is a need to protect children and individuals from cyber bullying and other actions that infringe on their privacy in the digital era.
The law thereby bans unauthorized access to information or data, bans sharing of any information including relating to a child without consent from a parent or guardian, bans sending or sharing of false, malicious and unsolicited information. It also bans using photos on social media without permission from owners and also bans sharing and sending information that promotes hate speech.
Anyone convicted of breaching the above provisions will pay a fine of Uganda shillings 10 million or serve a jail term of ten years or both.
Robert Ssempala, the Executive Director of the Human Rights Network for Journalists-HRNJ says the law must be challenged at the Constitutional Court because it infringes on freedom of expression and it will curtail citizen and investigative journalism. He was quoted on NBS TV, radio stations such as KFM, Capital FM, online sites namely Uganda Radio Network-URN on October 13, as saying citizen journalism has exposed perpetrators namely parents abusing children among others.
However, Kazo MP Dan Kimosho during a talkshow on Next Radio aired on Saturday October 15 defended the law, saying many people are obscene and vulgar and want to baptize these as freedom of expression. “The argument in the Computer Misuse Law is such that if you think it is your right to express yourself, one should then take responsibility for your right”, Kimosho emphasized.
Lawyer Julius Galisonga however disagreed, saying the law particularly was reacting to certain media posts. He added that “matters of public affairs can only thrive when leaders are put on tenterhooks to push through expression”, as quoted on Twitter handle of sister station NBS TV.
On October 13, during the NBS TV’S Frontline, Andrew Mwenda, the CEO of The Independent Publications Ltd also commented on the law. He is quoted on Twitter as saying “if you can’t stand the heat, don’t go to the kitchen. If you can’t stand criticism, don’t go to public office. If you don’t want public scrutiny, don’t become a public official”.
Will female and also male public officials heed to Galisonga and Mwenda’s advice on criticism or will they capitalize on the provisions of the Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act, 2022 to handle critics?
