Social Media is Killing the brains of young Ugandans.

   

Welcome to Jeremy Jjemba blogs..

Recently Mr. Andrew Mwenda, "The Old Man Who Knows It All," posted the words below on his Facebook page! 

He wrote....

 "Social media has killed the brains of many young people. In the olden days, to publish an opinion you needed to convince editors with the intellectual rigor of your argument. So you had to back your argument with facts, tone your language and improve your writing style. 

With social media, anyone with an idea, however stupid and incoherent, however uninformed and ridiculous, however uncouth and insulting, can post it on social media and get their voice heard - if anyone hears them at all. 

While this may have "democratized" public discourse, it has also adulterated it. Just imagine if all you needed to get a PhD was to write 300 pages of whatever came to your mind. What would happen to academia? That is what has happened to public debate."

And so that is the motion for debate 

Has social media killed the brains of young  Ugandans! Clearly the answer is hell no! Social media has improved the brains of young Ugandans. It has exposed many of us to a world beyond our slams and villages. The fact that my cousin in Ssinda Village no longer needs these so called "independent" print media, mainly newspapers, to deliver him NEWS is quite awesome....

I would really like to remind him of the old days! The days before social media! Back in the print media golden ages. 

My avarage circle of friend here in Kampala make about 10.000 shillings a day. Judging by the size of their businesses most of them cannot spare a single shilling to buy a newspaper, but most can afford Internet bundles to have their smart phones buzzing....

So once upon a time....

.....🇺🇬🇺🇬 all opinions were published in  a packaged form of-propaganda, where the editor sold you their edited platforms of issues approved of course by the governments, in countries  like ours; freedom of press is an illusion like all other freedoms are here currently in Uganda.

These cash for trush "independent" publications carried all the days opions.

These editors and founding members of gaint newspapers were indeed and always after revenue and only please the reader here and there the way soda companies sells us sugar water for  

Sh 3000 a bottle we can make ourselves with a little, water, sugar and food-colour! 

These editors are now pissed off that their long term investinment, their cash for trush publications  are not enjoying that miginal profits they sought after, that's why they think that social media is killing our brains ...because social medi also eats all of their advertising revenue.....they are are no longer cashing in heavy on advertising because people can do so directly via social media ..more on that later....

I was a kid when I first fell in love with reading and writing. It could have been at my Nursery school down @ Kasubi Church of God Nursery, it could have been at my primary school, Green Valley Primary School or my secondary school in the village of Kabimbiri. 

But along the way, on these old narrow and dusty roads on top of hills in Kampala🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬 or back on those long narrow village roads of Ssinda, I sought  after printed words... 

For primary school I walked all over Kampala. I would walk for Kasubi, back when it was a surburb not a slam it is now....I would walk from Kasubi all the way to Green Valley Primary School in the center of the city. My school was opposite Kiseka Markert. 

On my walk to school. I would catch many adults onlooking onto new-paper stands, the same way many do now for TV news in my hood. 

In my hood, in fact I don't know many Ugandans that have TVs to watch the news or soccer, their favorite sports....As much I don't know many Ugandans that own cars or have simple plumbing in their houses. 

Most of us are simple slam people who only used print media materials to wipe our asses after taking a shit or packing our fried cassavas to school the next morning. 

Those were the old print days...

Today, most if not all my friends in Uganda have a smart phone. We also listen to radio. Many of us still can not afford a television set, to watch soccer we crowd ourselves to the nearest TV set in tens. But we have smart phones, and yes we all over social media. We share stories, pictures and events quicker than we did before. 

We are well aware of the whole picture and in fact we consume some good print media when we can afford to spare a shilling..

 Social media allows young people to post their opinions,  like I am doing here, without approval of an editor....it is raw, politicaliticly incorrect, intellectual rigor of MY ME  arguments not some editor dude who has a degree in marketing and a dick a size of a toothpick to decide for me what I can express or how to do so....it is my tone, my language and my writing style, however ....

"stupid and incoherent, however uninformed and ridiculous, however uncouth and insulting," it is mine/ours and we share it with our comrades.....

For many other reasons left out for further  in depth narration.... I am against this motion...I believe that' "The Old Man Who Knows It All," is wrong as usual. 

Andrew Mwenda is wrong because print media had many flaws. They got and still get many stories wrong. Reporters are paid to twist and spin the words of a story to fit the platform they are working for! I can go on and on! 

 So No! Social media is not killing the brains of young people! It is improving the skills of how to communicate! It's why some governments shut it down during critical moment! 

For God and My Country! 

I thank you very much ! See you on  Twitter @JJjemba 🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬👉🏿👉🏿✌🏿️😜😂😀😜😎👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿

In other news, great leaders admit when they're wrong!!! 

When The Victim Is To Blame, a FB post on #UgandaDecides

Elton Joseph Mabirizi: 

When The Victim Is To Blame

2016 presidential candidate Elton Joseph Mabirizi has taken to his Facebook page to cite instances during which the government "blamed the victim". This comes after claims that break-ins at the offices of Amama Mbabazi's lawyers were stage managed. 

Below is the post in its entirety:

"When the victim is to blame

1. When my brother Kizza Besigye bandaged his hand after he was shot by a rubber bullet in his finger during the walk to work protests of 2011, a government minister said he was lying - that "he was using the bandage and arm sling to attract sympathy".

2. When Police undressed FDC Women leader along Masaka Road on her way to Rukungiri, police said she had "undressed herself".

3. At the start of my presidential campaign in Busoga,when I was abducted my men in military uniform never mind that I was under the watch of 11 counter terrorism policemen who had been placed to guard me 24 hours a day even as I use the bathroom, "They said I had kidnapped myself. That I was a comedian".

4. When armed personnel broke into my brother Amama's petition lawyers' offices they say it was an inside job; "that the lawyers broke into their own offices and stole their own computers and documents..

Lets wait to see who abducts himself next.

You cannot fool all the people all the time.

For God and my Country."

The Case for Term Limits in Uganda, Part 19 of series

Museveni Names A Legal Team of 36 Lawyers, the case for term limits ....

President Museveni has named a legal team of 36 lawyers after Amama Mbabazi's lawyers served him the presidential elections petition challenging his re-election in the recently concluded presidential elections.

After accepting to respond legally to Amama Mbabazi's petition with in three days, President Museveni has named a legal team of brainy lawyers to work on this case.

On Monday, the Supreme Court will announce the date when the hearing of the petition will start. 

LIST OF LEGAL TEAM:

1. Peter Kabatsi

2. Sam Mayanja

3. Didas Nkurunziza

4. Donald Nyakairu

5. Barnabas Tumusingize

6. Ebert Byenkya

7. John Fisher Kanyemebwa

8. James Sebugenyi

9. Oscar Kihika

10. Kimuli Moses

11. Joseph Matsiko

12. Boniface Ngaruye Ruhindi

13. Kiryowa Kiwanuka

14. Oscar Kambona

15. Edwin Karugire

16. Thomas Ocaya

17. Chris Bakiza

18. Anthony Wabwire

19. Paul Rutisya

20. Hussein Kashillingi

21. Jet Tumwebaze

22. Julius Acellam

23. Ochieng Evans Omwanda

24. Ronald Tusigwire

25. Ahmed Kalule

26. Richard Barungi

27. Elton Mugabi

28. Augustine Idoot

29. Kafeero Isaac

30. Idris Kusiima

31. Bruce Musinguzi

32. Ampaire Tumwebaze

33. George Muhangi

34. Isingoma Esau

35. Usaama Sebuufu

36. Kyagaba Isaac

Also let us remember that during the election the president also hired all the musicians in the country, well not all but those that were willing... When all the lawyers in  the county can be bought for money like peanuts on a market stand, justice becomes a mockery of the moral law and the internal being of all individuals in the country....

If Uganda brings back term limits into law  on all levels of government ( from down there to up here..) we could have a chance of having our country affair fed by  a collection of different ideas that can lead our country to a better future

Elections, court systems, will not bring us peaceful transitions.... The way to a peaceful transition is presidential term limits 

For God and my country ...🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬

The Case for Term Limits in #Uganda,

The case for term limits in Uganda, part 17 of series.....

For those of bone within the last 29 or less years have only seen one president in the small East African country of Uganda. 

The problem is not the Ugandans cannot elect or choice their leaders, the problem is that politics in our country has become more of a business than a motor for the good and the will of the people. 

The recent concluded presidential polls have left the country in a doubt of "democracy" as define. So much will be written and said, and the truth is known...

The campaigns that lasted for month seemed to be peaceful in general in only one or two major violet incident appearing on the radar.... The camping mood was more peaceful than all the other campaigns we have had in the country from 1996.... I was a kid, I'm sure I heard of Kizza Besigye and Museveni but didn't care for any of them back then.... As a kid I was selfish as all kids are, I was attending Kabimbiri (R/C) " Roman Catholic," Primary School located in what is Kayunga District now!

But I remember some things about the elections, for example in 1996 I remember Yoweri Museveni  won the elections, and he has won all others ever since, with some tricky methods in some cases filled in courts.... Museveni in the last 30 or less years went from "Rebel" solider commanding an illegal milita to Head of State in Uganda and now commanding those forces ....in fact if you ask him and his supporters, their biggest contribution to the country is "peace"...meaning they have kept most Uganda from fighting each other, of course there has been a 20 plus year war up in northern Uganda. So I give the regime 80% of credits they claim because so many died in northern Uganda under their watch.... This is on the record !!! 

In 1996 I was a kid, I Remember that election well because in the villages campaign came through, and since my grandmother's was in the road, I got to see all sought of convos go up and down the road . And I had the previllage to escort my grandma to the polls and helped her to voting... 

As all election in my country, the polls this time did not differ from those old days, 

Same peope., aged, rich, in fact I could go as far saying that it is two former best friends suitable to lead our country at this moment ... The case for term limits can concluded the the elections once again were free but not fair...

 In 1996 some said that, "the election appeared satisfactory, this was only in form; the intriguing influence of money, material considerations, and deliberate use of the power of incumbency to influence the outcome of the elections corrupted the electoral process and distorted its outcome. 

This phenomenon which I have called 'monetisation of elections', debased the principles of liberal democracy, and condoned corruption as a political virtue. This development could easily subvert the democratisation process and create grounds for a legitimacy crisis."

They are saying the same things! 

So allow me to lend my opion, Elections have not bought anything to Uganda. 

They have not bought as peace, the NRA/M-movement, came to power by the gun, and according to all facts collected, elections in the country in general have divided us while producing no fundamental results..... They have been violet like the recent cases of the state firing tear gas at polling agents, and like the MP contents in Fort Port where you had a former Soildier shot over his son's loose..

 Too much could be said over elections in Uganda, but the fact remains that wihtout term limits, election will be nothing but a showcase of who's more rich, more willing to WIN at all cost, in the end without term limits, the age limit of 75 years will be removed and come election  time the same factors will appear again to feed money to their electrol organs.....the case for term limits  is the only exist ticket Uganda has towards a peaceful transition... 

In 1996, all the factors favored Yoweri Museveni, in March 2016,,, some of those same factors may not swing in his favor.....

Kizza Besigye, Museveni's main opponent all most of these election is been treated as a fugitive in his own home. He's not allowed to travel, his not allowe to go to his part (FDC) offices, his not been charged with any crime but yet he is arrest the minute he steps foot outside of his door ... Let's be serious, this is a man with millions of supporters across the country who has the same perceived rights as an other Ugandan🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬🇺🇬

Former Ugandan Prime Minister is to petition court over flawed Ugandan elections

The petition of Mr Amama Mbabazi of Nyonyi Gardens Kololo Uganda, whose name is stated at the foot of this petition, shows:

1. Your petitioner Amama Mbabazi is a person who was a candidate at the above mentioned Presidential Election and is an aggrieved candidate within the meaning of the Presidential Election Act.

2. And your petitioner states that the election was held on the 18th day of February 2016 when Abed Bwanika, Amama Mbabazi, Baryamureeba Venansius, Benon Buta Biraaro, Kizza Besigye Kifefe, Mabirizi Joseph, Maureen Faith Kyalya Waluube and Yoweri Kaguta Museveni were candidates and the Electoral Commission has returned Yoweri Kaguta Museveni as the validly elected President by its Declaration dated 20th February 2016.

3. And your petitioner contends that the following offences and illegal practices were committed in connection with the said Presidential election that: 
(a) (i) Contrary to Section 64 (1) and (4) of the Presidential Elections Act hereinafter referred to as “the Act” the 1st Respondent [Mr Museveni] and his agents with his knowledge and consent or approval gave a bribe of hoes to the voters of West Nile with intent that they should vote the 1st Respondent and to refrain from voting the petitioner and other presidential candidates.

(ii) Contrary to Section 64 (1) and (4) of the Presidential Elections Act between mid-2015 and 16th and 18th of February 2016 the 1st Respondent through his agents and with the knowledge and consent or approval gave a bribe of Ushs250,000 (Uganda Shillings) to voters in every village throughout Uganda on two occasions with intent that they should vote the 1st Respondent and to refrain from voting the petitioner and other candidates
(b) Contrary to S.69 (1) (a) and (b) of the Act the 1st Respondent made reckless statements while referring to the petitioner and candidate Kizza Besigye that he was not prepared to hand over power to wolves, “emishega” and that the followers-cum-supporters of the petitioner and Kizza Besigye were “mad”.

(c) Contrary to Section 26 (b) of the Act the 1st Respondent organized, under the Uganda Police, a political partisan militia, the so-called “crime preventers” under the superintendence of the Inspector General of Police General Kale Kayihura, a paramilitary force –cum-militia to use force and violence against persons suspected of not supporting candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni thereby causing a breach of peace, disharmony and disturbance of public tranquility and induce others to vote against their conscience in order to gain unfair advantage for candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

(c) Contrary to Sections 24 (5) (a) (i) (ii) (b) (c) (d) and 7 of the Act the 1st Respondent on several occasions threatened to arrest your petitioner and candidate Kizza Besigye and used derogatory and reckless language when he stated that your Petitioner and his supporters had touched “the anus of a leopard” and would see what would happen to them and this had the effect of scaring voters to vote the 1st Respondent for their own safety.
(d) Contrary to Sections 24 (5) (a) (i) (ii) (b) (c) + (d) and 7 of the Act the 1st Respondent on various occasions threatened that if the voters elected your petitioner or anybody else, Uganda would go back to war and this had the effect of influencing the voters to vote the 1st Respondent so as to maintain the status quo. 

(e) That the above illegal practices and offences were committed by the 1st Respondent personally or and his agents and supporters with his knowledge and consent or approval through the Police, some elements of the Military, Special Forces and the organs of the State attached to his office under his command as the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Chairman of the National Defence Council and High Command and Chairman of the National Resistance Movement.
4. Your petitioner says that on … September 2015, contrary to S.3 (1) (2) of the Act, under the directive of the 1st Respondent, the Inspector General of Police General Kale Kayihura and his officers prevented your petitioner, as an aspirant from conducting consultations with voters in preparation for his nomination as a presidential candidate.

5. Under the directive of the 1st Respondent some officers under the command of General Kale Kayihura of the Uganda Police Force applied force and arrested your petitioner along Jinja Road in Njeru Town Council near the Owen Falls Dam Bridge and publicly humiliated him and later detained him at Kira Road Police Station thereby giving unfair advantage to the 1st Respondent who on the other hand was criss-crossing the country undeterred under the guise of “wealth creation” (sic) when he was in effect campaigning.

6. Contrary to Section 3 of the Act when your petitioner was subsequently allowed to go, he was hounded and trailed by some members of the Uganda People’s Defence Forces, the Uganda Police, a motley crew of all the state security agencies and the so-called Crime Preventers (sic) who would go as advance teams or would go at the time of the consultations to dissuade voters and members of the public from attending the Petitioner’s meetings and actually dispersed the petitioner’s meetings in diverse places in eastern Uganda, instilled fear and harassed all who attended the said meetings, and arrested all those who carried your petitioner’s manifestos, posters and other campaign materials thereby frustrating his efforts and giving unfair advantage to candidate Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.
7. Contrary to Sections 9 and 10 of the Act:
(a) The 1st Respondent was nominated by the 2nd Respondent (Electoral Commission) illegally on the 3rd day of November 2015 when the 1st Respondent had not yet been sponsored by the National Resistance Movement on whose ticket he purportedly contested.

(b) The 2nd Respondent acted improperly when it extended the deadline to give the 1st Respondent more time instead of declaring the 1st Respondent’s nomination papers null and void under S.11 of the Act after the deadline had passed and after all other candidates had submitted their respective documents thereby giving the 1st Respondent unfair advantage.
8. Contrary to Section 12 (i) (e) of the Election Commission Act, the 2nd Respondent failed to accord equal treatment to your petitioner when it failed to prevail upon authorities and agencies of government such as the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation and the New Vision Publishing Corporation through their electronic and print media to render equal coverage to him to enable him present his programmes but they offered preferential treatment to the 1st Respondent.

9. Contrary to Section 26 of the Act, the 1st Respondent directed a one [retired] Major General to fly the 1st Respondent’s helicopter fully decorated with the 1st Respondent’s campaign posters and party colours to land at Boma Ground Fort Portal and instilled fear and uncertainty and in effect interfering with the scheduled electioneering activities of your petitioner culminating in the disruption of your petitioner’s rally.

10. Contrary to Section 27 of the Act, the 1st Respondent made use of government resources which are not ordinarily attached to and utilized by the President without proper authorization by law thereby having unfair advantage over your Petitioner.
11. Contrary to Section 28(a) (b) (c) of the Act on 18th February 2016 officials of the 2nd Respondent delivered to many polling stations the voting materials late and at many polling stations voting did not commence until 2:00 pm and in some places at 4:00pm and yet others at 8:30pm and ended after 1:00am in other places.

12. Contrary to the provisions of Sections 33 and 48 (4) and (5) of the Act on the polling day during the polling exercise the Petitioner’s polling agents were chased away from the Polling Stations in many districts of Uganda and as a result the Petitioner’s interests at those polling stations could not be safeguarded.
13. Contrary to Section 30 (2) and (5) of the Act, the 2nd Respondent and its agents/servants allowed voting before the official polling time and allowed people to vote beyond the polling time by people who were neither present at polling stations nor in the line of voters at the official hour of closing.

14. Contrary to Section 31 (8) of the Act, the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants in the course of their duties, allowed commencement of the poll with pre-ticked ballot papers, ballot boxes already stuffed with ballot papers and without first opening the said boxes in full view of all present to ensure that they are devoid of any contents.
15. Contrary to Section 32 of the Act, the 2nd Respondent’s agents/servants/the Presiding Officers in the course of their duties and with full knowledge that some people had already voted allowed the same people to vote more than once.

From the daily monitar (UG)

In Uganda after a FLAWED elections, Citizens Demand Recall of the electoral process

The Mathematics doesn't add up. Here is why the presidential announcement should be recalled and a re-run or recount ordered.

First I need to state that I love numbers as a former Auditor of Ernst and Young and an international Banker with a global bank but also a certified fraud examiner and financial crime certified. I spent time looking at the numbers released by EC and unlike previous posts and all the hate posts, I have assumed that there was no cheating and that electoral commission was independent and results were accurate and just concentrated on the numbers so my readers can read without bias and I came to the conclusion that EC errorred not only in the percentages quoted but also in announcing M7 as the winner of the elections and why a recount or Re-run is needed.

First the law requires that a candidate should get 50% and above of the votes to be declared a winner or else there will be a re-run. Now on the numbers declared by EC.

Bw-        86,075- 0.93%

JPAM-    132,574-1.43%

Barya -    51,086- 0.55%

Biraro -    24675 -0.26%

KB.    -    3,270,290-35.37%

Mabirizi- 23,762.    -0.26%

Kyalya -  40,598.   -0.44%

YKM -      5,617,503- 60.75%

Total of valid votes - 9,246,563

invalid votes- 455,175- 4.69%

Spoilt votes - 25,538

Total votes  - 9,727,276

When you add up the %ages quoted above including invalid votes, the total is 104.69% instead of 100% as expected because when determining percentages for candidates, EC didn't include invalid votes and spoilt votes which it should as per the law since they form part of the votes cast. ( Lawyers can confirm). 

If invalid votes are added when determine percentages of candidates as per released results, president M7 would have scored 57.75% which still is ok for him to be declared president but then don't forget that Electoral commission announced M7 pre-maturely by including only 93.62% of the polling stations. Leaving 6.62% of the polling stations unaccounted for or not included.

After analyzing the EC released results you will notice that the polling stations not included came from JInja, Kampala, Wakiso etc. now it's not a coincidence that those are some of the most populated voting areas and I won't assume they are for FDC or NRM. The 6.62% of non included polling stations actually account for over 12% of the registered voters  and therefore by not including them in the counting EC knowingly or unknowingly might have prematurely announced M7 winner bse there remained a possibility of M7 getting less than 40% of the votes not counted in which case opposition would get the remaining 60% as it happened in Kampala in which case M7 would fail to get 50%. It's therefore possible that a re-run would occur. Please not all those figures were based on actuals released by electoral commission but it would be real worse if rigging is factored like some areas where M7 got more votes than actual polling station numbers or where pre-ticket ballots were discovered.

I would therefore request journalists and those concerned to look through the numbers first before we even factor in rigging which was obvious.

I hope somebody interested in facts analyses the numbers and I hope the opposition challenges the election based on facts so that the element of substance and substantial is established to give us ground for a repeat of the election. I would also welcome any criticism on the law. 

What is your take? 

Source: Mr. Frank Gushumba : @FB page feb16.ug

A New poem I am working on for my next book

A woman’s work…

I know little about women

what they want

what they wear

and I have littleno clue about the things they talk about

and how they walk, this I know

I have not yet seen another beautiful thing on God’s wide earth

that undulateswiggles her hips like that

well some women are presidents

some are queens

some play sports

some write poems and novels

well I know little about women

weather be a president or queen

I know little about women

and their jobs

women

birth

babies

breast feeding

Jeremykimbugwejjemba