More Ugandans are now embracing ICT to promote democracy and good governance, report says.
Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) report released last week Wednesday indicated mobile phones, automated calls, social media, crowdsourcing platforms and radio, television and print media are exceedingly in use in promoting good governance and participation in voting and community development.
Ugandan mobile subscribers are growing by the day with more than 90 percent of Ugandans owning mobile phones and more 910,000 subscribers added by the year. This has increased the use of ICT to champion for human rights and development, says CIPESA.
CIPESA categorised the ICT used, to include election monitoring, lobbying and activism, voter registration, elections reporting, citizen policing and civic participation in the post-election period.
In the survey, 77 percent of the respondents used email, 68 percent used Web portals and 50 percent used social media. Those who used more than two Internet tools comprised 74 percent while only 21 percent preferred print and 5 percent radio.
Organisations including Electoral commission and Civil Society Organisations have extensively taken advantage of ICT to educate and sensitize voters, the report said.
Uganda Watch 2011, Citizen Election Watch IT and Uchaguzi run by an NGO the Citizens’ Coalition for Democracy in Uganda were used for election monitoring while Activists for Change, Honour Your Vote, Ugandans at Heart and The return Our Money Campaign by the government found application in lobbying and activism.
The report also indicated ICT tools were widely in use for campaigning, tallying results, monitoring the actions of political groups and the electoral body, for civic education, and for activism.
The government’s Online Voters Register and SMS application were deployed during Uganda’s 2011 elections to ensure transparency and accountability. This followed the Access to Information Act 2005 passed June last year by the Ugandan government to promote freedom of expression and speech.
Uganda got its independence in 1962 and its 2005 referendum allowed multiparty politics in the country. The first major elections took place in 2006 and several party groups were unsatisfied with them. The ruling party has been in power since 1986 after a military coup.
