He said in a phone interview that they have tested the internet and it's working perfectly. This despite a shutdown which affected the entire country, when the government moved to block access to the Worldwide web.
The head of Election Management at Electoral Commission
Kiyimba Umar says they have an internet connection that will enable the electronic
transmission of results.
He said in a phone interview that they have tested the
internet and it's working perfectly. This despite a shutdown which affected the entire country, when the government moved to block access to the Worldwide web.
The shutdown which was enforced last evening came moments after
President Yoweri Museveni accused Facebook of interfering with the electoral
process. This was in reference to the removal of hundreds of Facebook accounts that
were run by pro-NRM bloggers in Kampala claiming they were fake and duplicate
accounts used to make content appear more popular ahead of the elections.
In the aftermath, the Executive Director of the Uganda Communications Commission-UCC Irene Sewankambo ordered telecom companies to immediately suspend any access and use of social media and online
messaging platforms. Service providers such as Airtel and MTN Uganda subsequently
alerted their subscribers about the suspension.
As for how they got connection yet the internet
was shut down completely, Kiyimba said: “that is not a question for me to
answer.”
//Cue in; “we are even…
Cue out…we are okay.”//
After voting and counting at polling stations, results will be
transported to the district tally centres where district registrars will sum
votes result from polling stations. Its these district results that will be
transmitted electronically to the National Tally Centre at Kyambogo University
for the official announcement of winners.
Blanshe Musinguzi
Freelancer