The Presidential Selfie!

Picture by @rkabushenga and @KagutaMuseveni at the celebrations of 100 Years of West Nile.

At the celebrations of 100 years of West Nile held in Arua on April 21, 2014, the president took time to officially launch Urban TV's takeover of Northern Uganda. And he did this in style; taking his first ever selfie to keep with the station's hip and trendy style. The selfie sparked a mini-storm on social media as tweeps and Facebook influencers discussed the validity of the selfie.

There was also the 'small' matter of the parody account @YKMuseveni that had been tagged in instead of the President's reported official account @KagutaMuseveni. While some tweeps faulted Vision Group's Robert Kabushenga and the president's communication aides for the mistake, someone did point out on Twitter that whether or not the genuine or parody account was tagged in would not make a difference since the said official account has never sent out any tweets.

Following the conversation on Twitter, I couldn't help but ponder the significance of the Presidential selfie;  So what , if the president took a selfie or attempted to take a selfie? Does it matter? 

I think it matters. I think it matters because of the 6 million Ugandans that President Museveni believes have smartphones.(refer to Innovation summit in Kigali, 2013). Or perhaps you want to use the more realistic 17 million mobile subscribers in Uganda. Or you can join me and imagine the number of first time voters in 2016. These are 18 - 22 year olds who literally live online. 

The moral of the story; social media and the use of technology is going to be a major medium of communication for the 2016 polls.

Our president has not previously shown himself to be tech savvy or a lover of change for that matter. This is unlike his contemporaries like Rwanda's Paul Kagame, a popular tweep, Uganda's very own prime minister Amama Mbabazi and his #AskThePM sessions, President Barack Obama of the US and his almost daily selfies. 

In light of these realities, I believe that our president's selfie is a sign that the President is willing to come to where we are,  if only for the sake of the 2016 polls. What we do with him while he is in our turf is up to us, but first we need to welcome him to our world and not ridicule him for not being perfect in our ways!

Let's get him to tweet and join the conversations the matter to us. Let's ask @sarahkagingo, the President's social media editor to organise a #AskThePresident session. Let's ask President Museveni to make the 6 million Ugandan smartphone owners claim he made in Kigali a reality by subsidising these vital gadgets. Let's ask him to direct all his subordinates including Generals, ministers, cadres, MPs, historicals et al to join the conversation  on social media. 

Let citizen participation and government accountability be the price for the 2016 polls.