NATIONAL | The Registrar General of the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), Mercy Kainobwisho, has announced she is deactivating her account on X.
Ms Kainobwisho's decision comes on the back of her alleged hefty salary figures being leaked by social media activists under the Agora banner.
The leaked pay structure of URSB staff shows that Ms Kainobwisho earns a whopping Shs40m per month with her deputy pocking Shs31 million monthly.
However, she trashed the information as "completely false" and one that "should be ignored".
"But if it’s a prophecy for higher earnings from anywhere, we’ll wait on God for that miracle," Ms Kainobwisho joked.
"Please dismiss this misleading information."
The Next Media Services, the parent company of this publishing house, the Nile Post, last week launched a campaign against Misinformation and Disinformation in public milieu and Ms Kainobwisho appeared to stress as much.
She said she had kept away from X for months but that she had been drawn back to address a concern because of the many calls she was receiving regarding the list shared.
"This X space has unfortunately become a place where anyone can spread false, misleading information without consequence," she lamented.
Hours after the Thursday evening attempt to clarify the salary position, Ms Kainobwisho on Friday morning shared her growing frustration with users on the platform and announced she was deactivating her account altogether.
She said she had come to believe that some of the most peaceful people in the world today are those who are not on social media, "especially the spaces filled with negativity".
"My intentions of being here on Twitter were to share knowledge, experience and skills, motivate, inspire greatness but the fights, the deception, the negativity, the toxic talks, the baggage people share, the insults, the reputation damage here are not worth it," Ms Kainobwisho said.
"So I am officially off Twitter (X) , please do not look for me from this platform. Kindly note that this has been my personal account and not any official account of any institution."
It remains unclear if the public official with more than 40,000 followers was bluffing or serious since two hours after the announcement, her account was still up.
However, she is not quitting everything social media - she is still on LinkedIn where she says accurate information can be got.
"LinkedIn remains a professional, peaceful platform where respectful engagement is valued," Ms Kainobwisho said.
"Please be cautious when believing information shared by certain groups here; it may be misleading and intended to cause violence and hatred. You will start hating people for no reason. And such people do not care to destroy reputations of innocent people as long as it makes them attract more followers."
The URSB honcho prayed for a platform equipped with artificial intelligence to detect and instantly eliminate lies, misinformation, and hate speech, ensuring a safe, uplifting environment for all.
But Godwin Toko, a laywer and one of the founders of Agora civic oranisation that leaked the alleged pay scale, said the country instead urgently needed a group of dedicated public servants who respect and value the poor Ugandans who pay their salaries from their hard labour.
"Not this entitled group that wake up to rant like disgruntled adolescents because someone made their salaries known to those who foot it," Mr Toko said.
The veracity of the alleged pay structure for URSB staff remain unclear to this publication but Ms Kainobwisho's claim of it being false could not have received a better endorsement from within the document.
While the corresponding annual earnings for Ms Kainobwisho adds up, those of her deputy and other staff appear to be grossly inflated and at odds with the alleged monthly package.