State Censorship
There is an old adage
that when you offer a handshake to a leper, expect a hug in subsequent
encounters. This adage seems to prevail in Uganda with state censorship in our
ordinary lives. The state has appropriated our inherent rights as enshrined in chapter
4 of the 1995 Uganda constitution (as amended). Our freedoms of free speech,
association and, liberty are probably the most censored in the entire continent.
It is becoming harder
not to infatuate with the idea that Uganda is not a full dictatorship or a neo-fascist
state. Personally, I see a bleak future where Ugandans wear shackles at every
aspect of their limbs and duck tapes over their mouths as this regime reinvents
itself for the worse.
The plight of maverick
Dr. Nyanzi of thirty-three days in a maximum prison on accusation of her social
media communication is a signal. The crime (sub judice), is related to her exercise
of creative speech.
The numerous attempts to
obliterate the mysterious social media figure - Tom Voltaire Okwalinga accentuates
Police budget. Suspected Okwalinga’s have been arbitrarily arrested and jailed.
The story of Shaka, aka Maverick Blutaski conjures a memory of the intents of
the state to shut us up. Incidentally, as they close one communication channel,
modern communications technology keeps creating others.
Certainly, the Police spend
much of its time and resources in containing public free space. That is the
irony. When you have an educated population, you should expect value clash and critics
when performances are below par.
Unfortunately, the
state censorship and surveillance has peaked levels that prevail under
totalitarian regimes. Soon, they will fly their supersonic jets and helicopters
over your villages to distribute pamphlets with scripts of what to say in your daily
conversations. Their morbid desire is to
police Ugandans until they develop a common language of the subdued.
Some Ugandans condemn
Dr. Nyanzi, TVO, or Shaka, subjects of witch-hunt by state functionaries. However,
it is our free speech and intellectual freedom that this state is after.
Even if these critics’
writings or public utterances irritate the regime, or were somehow wrong, morally
objectionable, and are indifferent to the emperors, should we just destroy them
or shut them up? These people convey relevant issues that concern our
expectations from our government, and we should listen, attentively.
Few days ago, a letter
threatening to suspend the trade license of NBS TV, dated May 11, 2017 and
referenced LA/181/39 was issued by Uganda Communications Corporation, the state
agency that censures our public and private dialogues, and regulates the media.
Apparently, the UCC was “appalled, concerned…and took exceptions to strong
language and conduct of a guest” on NBS televised show. This action demonstrates
the boundless state ascendancy over our free speech.
You can imagine how
much caution any Ugandan or business must exercise to survive a harsh
confrontation with state apparatus. This hypersensitivity and high-handed
censorship are detrimental to intellectual development and a threat to foreign investments.
Moreover, such
excessive state intrusions into private spaces drive Ugandans away from active
public life into self-exile within the diminishing personal spaces. Excessive censorship
drives progressive views underground and engenders resistance. For instance,
there is a phone tapping law whose victims are random, and then the Public
Order Management law where the Inspector General of Police is the absolute
authority over our rights to associate, assemble and free speech.
This state affair
needs a rebuttal. We must resist excessive state censorship and halt the
usurpation of our inherent freedoms. The mechanism of control begins with
destruction of our social bonds, creating isolated individuals. Once isolated,
no matter how legitimate your causes are, the state’s strong arms crashes your
will and duck-tapes you infinitum.
The right of free speech,
the freedom to assemble and associate are the fundamentals of intellectual
development. When you shut those avenues down, you brood a nation of near imbeciles
who are too easy to dominate.
When we concede to tyranny
by passively relinquishing one or two inalienable rights, we slowly and surely forfeit
all.
End.
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