vimarsana.com

சேவை வழங்குநர்கள் சங்கம் News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

The futility of elections: Re-thinking democracy in East Africa

The futility of elections: Re-thinking democracy in East Africa 22 Feb 2021 A truck carries soldiers of the South Sudanese government force in the capital Juba on Nov. 12, 2016. (Photo by Kyodo News Stills via Getty Images) Despite their frequency and venerated place in the functioning of democracies, elections in East Africa are increasingly violent, plagued by coercion and irregularities and tend to exacerbate existing sociopolitical tensions without resulting in meaningful political change, improved quality of governance or citizen participation.  Recent polls in Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi,South Sudan and Uganda have been heavily criticised. But, electoral “winners” can claim their victories as legitimate despite the dubious circumstances under which they held.

100 hours in the dark: How an election internet blackout hit poor Ugandans

5 Min Read NAIROBI/KAMPALA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - When Uganda ordered an internet shutdown on the eve of the presidential election, groundnut seller Susan Tafumba’s trade collapsed. The 34-year-old sells groundnuts at Kampala’s Nakawa market, but much of her business now comes through a mobile phone app that customers use to order goods to be delivered to them by motorcycle taxis. “Usually the app gets us more profit than those people who come on a daily basis to the market, but we lost customers,” said Tafumba, one of countless small traders whose increasingly tech-dependent livelihoods were hit by the shutdown.

From internet shutdown to VPN showdown, govt is on a warpath

The East African Monday February 01 2021 Electoral commission officials direct voters at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, on January 14, 2021. PHOTO | AFP Summary In the 2016 Internet shutdown, it was reported that Uganda lost close to $2 million for each day the country was off the web. This time, with the massive shift online fuelled by the Covid-19 and shutdowns, and growth in the digital economy, the losses have been big. Advertisement Ahead of the January 14 election, Uganda shuttered the Internet, lifting them after almost five days. An earlier blockage of social media is now in its third week. In the 2016 Internet shutdown, it was reported that Uganda lost close to $2 million for each day the country was off the web.

© 2025 Vimarsana

vimarsana © 2020. All Rights Reserved.