Uganda is performing well without facebook, says Museveni

President Museveni has said the closure of facebook in the country has not had any effect on Uganda.

“The other day I checked to see whether bananas are still being produced.  I thought bananas would stop if facebook closed.  I checked and I found cows are still milking and fish is still in the lake,” Museveni said on Wednesday.

“We can exist without facebook. Those biased people should not bother us.”

The president was on Wedesday speaking at a function to welcome the Ugandan team that participated in the just concluded Olympics 2020 games in Tokyo.

According to Museveni, facebook which was shut down in Uganda ahead of the January 14 polls has not had any effect on the country since then.

He insisted that the country can ably function without facebook, in comments that many have interpreted to indicate that the ban slapped on the social media platform by the Ugandan government will take long to be lifted.

Ugandans access facebook through Virtual Private Networks(VPNs) after the shutdown of the social media platform in the country.

Experts recently warned that the continued shutdown of Facebook in Uganda is having a toll on civic space and digital markets in the country.

“For a person who is using 100 mbs, who would may be browse for a day, using normal internet, currently uses VPN to browse Facebook for just like 2 or 3 hours, increasing the cost of internet in the country,” Wabwire said.

Wabwire said that with VPNs, it is now close to impossible to target clients in digital campaigns on Facebook because of the shutdown.

“You cannot do targeted marketing anymore, users can not target the audience of Ugandans for a campaign. You can do that for clients elsewhere but not here.”

Wabwire said that some VPNs also allow users to use their servers in exchange for users data which puts Ugandans at risk.

Godwin Toko, a lawyer said that away from connecting people and doing business, Facebook is also used as a means of coordinating for civic engagements and blocking it limits such engagements.

President Museveni earlier this year lashed out at the tech giant is biased after it closed several accounts of government supporters alleging they sought to manipulate public debate ahead of the Jan. 14 elections.

It remains to be seen whether the ban on facebook in Uganda will be lifted with time.