Makerere students riot and forget to tell anyone

Last night two Makerere students were shot by an armed security guard leading to widespread riots near the university today.

Uganda Online - Makerere Students on Strike after 2 Killed

However no one thought to utilize Twitter to get the story out. Searches for #Makerere all day on Twitter Search resulted in nothing more than news reports. How is it that students -- particularly politically-active students -- are not making use of the social media tools available to them. Is it ignorance of Twitter? Is it the high cost of an internet connection? What has led to this?



I know that thousands of students are active on social media sites like Facebook but ignorance abounds. During the deadly riots here in Kampala, only a tiny handful of techies were sending out tweets on what was happening. For many Ugandans and Uganda lovers all over the world, these tweets were THE ONLY source of information on the riots. Local media was not spreading the word and international media does not exist here. Much was the case today.

Even now as I listen to police sirens passing my home, I wonder why this is and how it can be changed. With national elections happening in a year's time, citizens need to be "armed" with their own tools that can help them take a stand against violence and intimidation. Technology and information is one way that such tactics can be countered.

The cost of internet access in the past six months has gone down but it is still high for students of a budget. And unfortunately of the six of so major providers, only Uganda Telecom has a Twitter update feature. These things need to be changed before elections hit full bore.

Perhaps people have ideas as to how we can remedy this media black hole. Only when each citizen holds a Twitter-enabled cellphone will people in power realize that there is no longer such thing as an isolated media event, violent or not.