Humanist

There isn’t a doubt in my mind that social media has become a powerful tool for active citizenship and which enables citizens to have direct access to their elected leaders in unprecedented ways in the case of Uganda.

Unfortunately, also, social media is increasingly the tool through which those holding both public and civil service positions in Uganda to popularize propaganda and to engage in diversionary debate that avoids discussion of the issues.

Nevertheless, social media is a good option for advocacy and debate on matters that have a direct bearing on our day to day lives. Case in point, an exchange that I had with a Member of Parliament (MP) eight years ago in reaction to my blog post on the absence of public toilets along the Eastern Route.

I had shared the post to a Facebook group page of members of a first nation of Uganda that has territorial claim of a huge chunk of North-Eastern Uganda, the Iteso, the fifth largest first nation of Uganda. It is on the Facebook group page that the MP saw my post and he engaged.

“OWARAGA, THE STORY TELLER INDEED!!! I have read your story and just want to make a few comments. While you passionately blame Government as you have always done, someone has to remind you that a few years ago, the Tirinyi road you were gliding on was not in that state. The plane-like buses whose luxury you enjoyed, did not exist when public transport was in Government hands. Namawojjolo was popular for a robbery roadblock mounted by Government Soldiers. There was no roadside selling of snacks so travelers had to carry roasted groundnuts, cassava, potatoes and water some of which could be grabbed at the numerous roadblocks along the way. Government, like any other organized institution with resource challenges, operates by setting priorities and designing funding frameworks. If I may ask, should government build toilets on the dusty-bumpy Tirinyi- Kumi road, or first have Tarmac on it? I am sure your farm investment needs the Tarmac more than the toilets if you are to access market.”

Hon. Eriaku Peter Emmanuel

In Ateso, the language of Iteso, awaragat is a story and a male story teller is owaraga. I assume that is the context he exclaimed “Owaraga the story teller indeed.” I would like to think, in addition, that the story I had told about the absence of public toilets along the eastern route was effective. But, let me go back to the point of this post.

The MP’s factoid laden diversionary comment did not deter me. In fact, it emboldened me and motivated me to school him on how to stay focused in a debate and to engage in empirical-evidence-based discourse. I responded:

“Hon. Eriaku Peter Emmanuel, my father, Ejakait Eng. George William Owaraga (RIP) was the consultant who worked with Stirling to build the Tirinyi highway – I need no education on the matter of Tirinyi highway pre and post. You have deployed the standard diversionary method of debate which is so unproductive. I am talking about absence of public toilets for passengers traveling on public transport. Allowing the dehumanisation of people to shit by the road side is not good government practice. A better use of government money is provision of public toilets, instead of bailing out greedy, reckless and incompetent MPs. Are you arguing otherwise?”

The MP went on the defensive, writing:

“No more comments, because my peasant father raised me not to be abusive, especially in a public arena. All the best in your new-found career!”

I did not allow him an easy way out. I pressed some more and responded:

“No one is being abusive in this discussion. You are the one who is being insensitive, disrespectful, diversionary – being diversionary does not help the discussion. In your entire postings you have not dealt with the matter in discussion – which is a typical unproductive manner of engagement. You have not stated your opinion on what you think about the absence of public toilets along the Tirinyi Highway and whether you think this is a crisis or not. You have not offered any solutions. You instead thought you would get away intimidating us – without even bothering to appreciate that we might actually be members of the NRM who are simply exercising the essence of the NRM 10-point programme. Some of us are not so easily intimidate and you must appreciate that your role as a Member of Parliament is not to shut people up, but to listen. Your father did a good job of raising you and you are now the one disgracing him – how do you think people of your father’s generation feel when they have no choice but to shit in public because there are no public toilets? Really, I find the low-level to which you want to drag this discussion totally unexpected and unacceptable.”

In his next posting, I deduce my spirited stand mellowed him somewhat. He wrote:

“Some level of sincerity and honesty is required in this road side public toilet debate. I have travelled by public means to all corners of our country. The practice by drivers of PSVs is to identify one-stop-shops along the way so that passengers can buy some items and also refresh themselves as the driver probably tops up the fuel. On our eastern highway, there are so many of such places like Igar Mukono, Igar Jinja, Total Iganga, Total Mbale, … … … not to mention the bus parks, most of which run by the private sector. Whenever I use other buses or taxis, the drivers enable passengers to make use of these facilities. Why Kakise Bus Company has specialized in that particular spot along Tirinyi road can only be answered by their management. Thank God someone in the private sector has already identified it as a business opportunity and is slowly putting up some facilities there. Government is not good at doing business. It therefore only provides a good environment for the private sector to flourish.”

Hon. Eriaku Peter Emmanuel

Yes, he wasn’t only receiving heat from me. Others on the Facebook group were also hitting hard on the role of government and the absence of public toilets on the eastern route.

I sensed from his response that our activism chipped away and the MP had no choice but to engage the issue. However, presumably, not wanting to loose face, in his comments he still deflected somewhat. I took it upon myself, to press him some more. I responded:

“I am a regular on the eastern route and I have used the Igar stops you have mentioned. Those facilities are not sufficient to handle a bus load of people wanting to help themselves – it would take a minimum of 30 minutes or more before every passenger who needed the facility would have used it. Nevertheless, this is a good starting point for government to encourage public-private partnerships to provide public toilets. The lead must be taken my government – in this case the government is the one which has the primary role to ensure that we have access to public toilets.”

Long story short, eight years later, I am happy to report that an investor has established a nice facility at that spot in Bukoona on the Iganga-Tirinyi Highway, at which travellers by public and private transport can now stop to ease themselves with dignity; rest a while and enjoy refreshments. Kudos to the investor!

An interesting turn of events for the MP though. He who one of the Facebookers described during the famous Facebook debate eight years ago as “forever defensive as usual” and who “will never find any fault in the way government does its things,” lost the NRM primaries for the 2016 elections.

When he did, according to the Daily Monitor, he “withdrew construction material (70 iron sheets and 65 bags of cement) he had donated to Angaro Community Primary School with the hope of securing the NRM Party Primaries.” In 2021, he contested as an independent, “garnered 2 votes and lost the election.”

Profile photo @ author moderating a session during the Konrad Adenuer Stiftung Social Media Conference.