Across the continent, many of Africa's long-serving presidents
have met their match in the form of online protests which test the
strength of their ability to retain power.
While countries like Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda have
constitutions that technically guarantee rights such as freedom of association,
speech, and assembly, these rights are often violated. Today, galvanised by
increased connectivity, youthful pan-African online communities are using
social media to speak out against this repression and support younger
candidates vying for office in countries where leaders have clung to power for
decades.
The last few months have seen unprecedented online activism, with
trending hashtags such as #FreeBobiWine (Uganda); #FreeJonesAbiri and
#FreeSamuelOgundipe (Nigeria) and #FreeDianeRwigara (Rwanda) created
by African netizens to create awareness, solidarity and put international
pressure on their governments.
Uganda
#FreeBobiWine
In December 2017, 74-year-old Yoweri Museveni, Uganda’s president
for the past 32 years, saw the constitutional amendment for which he’d
campaigned strenuously signed into law. The amendment removed the age limit of
75 years for presidential candidates, paving
the way for Museveni to extend his rule when his term expires in 2021. Most
citizens favoured retention of the clause, and the Democratic Party ran a
campaign called ‘Togikwatako’ (‘Hands Off’ in Luganda) to protect it.
During the age-limit debates, the young musician-turned-politician
Robert Kyagulanyi Sentamu—widely known as ‘Bobi Wine'—caught Museveni's
attention with his growing following, both online and in rallies. Perhaps
fearing Bobi Wine's influence, Museveni wrote a
public letter on a wide range of governance issues and pushed even
harder to remove the age-limit clause. In the aftermath of Togikwatako, the
government imposed a social media tax to “stem gossip,” which led to major
social protests with Bobi Wine at the forefront.
Bobi Wine has spurred political participation among young Ugandans
who connect with his personal story and humble beginnings in the poor suburb of
Kamwokya, where he built a music studio and launched a powerful career in the
Uganda music scene. He went on to wage
a successful parliamentary campaign that beat challengers from both the
ruling National Resistance Movement and the opposition in the June 2017 by-election.
On August 13, 2018, Bobi Wine joined independent candidate
Kassiano Wadri during a by-election in Arua to support Wadri’s campaign.
Violence ensued after a presidential convoy was stoned and the state pointed a
finger at Wadri's camp. Several parliamentarians and other people—including
some who were nowhere near the scene—were
arrested and brutally beaten.
During the fracas, Bobi Wine's driver was
shot dead while sitting in a parked car. It was later revealed that Bobi Wine
had been the intended target. According to his lawyers, Bobi Wine was tortured
and held in a military detention centre. The trumped-up charges were dropped
after ten days but Bobi Wine was
Bobi Wine's brutal arrest and detention were met with
international condemnation, igniting the trending hashtags #FreeBobiWine,
#FreeArua33 in addition to street protests throughout the world, with the
largest one held in Nairobi.
Nigeria
#FreeJonesAbiri
Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari's government has significantly
repressed press freedoms in recent years. Between August 2015 and March 2018,
about 17
Nigerian journalists and bloggers have been unlawfully arrested or detained by
security forces. Buhari has openly expressed his aversion to a free press and
freedom of speech. In a recent address
to lawyers, he stated that “the Rule of Law must be subject to the
supremacy of the nation’s security and national interest.”
A number of hashtags have trended this year in response to the
Buhari administration's intimidation journalists and citizens. One of them
concerns Jones Abiri, publisher of Weekly
Source, who was arrested on
July 21, 2016, by state security (DSS) agents at his office in Yenagoa (Bayelsa
State).
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