BY TIMOTHY KALYEGIRA
The Computer Misuse (Amendment) Act 2022 was signed into law on Oct. 13, 2022 by President Yoweri Museveni. Like the Public Order Management Law of 2013, the Computer Misuse Law immediately stirred up a storm of protest because of the implications for freedom of speech. Regarding the new law on computer misuse, it is somewhat misnamed because the majority of people in Uganda who use the Internet get online via smartphones.
As of September 2022, the figures were: 58.72% who use smartphones; 39.18% who use desktop computers, which includes personal computers and laptops; and 2.1% use tablet computers. That said, the general opinion, unsurprisingly, is that the NRM government seeks to create and then use these laws as political tools, especially against the political opposition and the news media. The facts The first thing to say is that we do need government and laws. Societies are made up of too many people with too many different personalities, backgrounds, and motives for them to be left without central authority. The South African-born technology billionaire recently bought the micro-blogging platform Twitter. Musk is a cantankerous personality who smokes marijuana and believes in the right to speak one’s mind.
However, even him, in a message to Twitter advertisers published on Oct. 27, 2022, stated: “Twitter obviously cannot become a free-for-all hells cape, where anything can be said with no consequences!” What Musk said is what social media largely is, particularly, the more politically- and news-oriented platforms like Facebook and Twitter. There is hardly anybody who uses social media, who does not end up feeling mildly depressed or irritated at the rudeness, irrelevant user comments and bickering.
People’s photos and content are used without permission or crediting, often much of the information on these platforms is poorly written and sourced.
Online fraud is on the increase and many women report receiving the most inappropriate messages in their private inboxes. If there is any place today that needs regulation or at least some form of checks, it is social media. However, Uganda being what it is, the fears of the media, legal fraternity and civil society are justified. The loose knots in the law in Uganda Recent experience over the last 20 years has shown that what is on paper, good laws, tend to be misused by the government to jail or prosecute citizens whose only fault is to hold political views contrary to the government’s preference.
Rape allegations were brought against the opposition leader Dr. Kiiza Besigye in 2006, partly to get him jailed without bail and mostly to humiliate him. Fortunately, the Ugandan public saw through the scheme and since then, does not trust the government as far as the law is concerned. This, then, is the image problem the government starts out with whenever it proposes or passes laws with a political bearing. The alternative If one is to advise the government on how to implement this law that is clearly and urgently needed, it would be the following:
First, accept the fact that laws have in the past been used to silence or intimidate the media or political parties and thus have lost their moral authority. Once the government accepts this, it should begin by focusing on the many annoying ways that ordinary Ugandans misuse their computers and smartphones when online. It should act decisively and swiftly when cases of sexual harassment or general bullying are reported. Offenders should be punished and this is carried by the media as a deterrent against similar behaviour. When the public begins to see the Computer Misuse Law actually used to protect them from the daily nuisance that comes with using social media, when one day a leading political activist or a media house is targeted, the public will be more likely to give the state the benefit of doubt.
In other words, by abusing the law in the past, the government has achieved its political goals but lost political legitimacy. Therefore, it should use this new law both as a legal tool and as a political and marketing method by which to win back public trust in the government and its law-
enforcement agencies. Then it will be a successful law.
