On Tuesday, followers of the Commander Land Forces Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba woke up to a deactivated Twitter account of the General, which sparked off public debate and speculations.
Whereas many thought that the first son’s account had been discontinued by Twitter, the flag saying “this account doesn't exist” defined that he had deleted his account unlike the flag retained on suspended accounts which normally reads “account suspended.”
Like many Ugandans, RX Radio presenter James Onen aka Fatboy wondered why the General, a frequent user of the platform, after accumulating a seemingly overwhelming influence and support on Twitter would delete his account thereafter.
“So he opted to deactivate his account! Perhaps it was a third party. Maybe the account was hacked and someone might have deleted it to make it sound like Muhoozi did. It can happen. But if he did delete his account, the question would be for what purpose?” Fatboy said.
His co-host Olive Najjuma responded that perhaps Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba deleted his account for personal reasons.
“Maybe he needed space in the event that it was not hacked, maybe he needs to focus on more important issues,” Olive said.
At the time he deactivated his Twitter account, the General had over 540,000 followers making him one of the Ugandans with the highest following on the platform.
Fatboy however said he felt sad at first when rumors about General Muhoozi’s account being deleted by Twitter were circulating on the platform.
“As an advocate of free speech and expression, I want people to have the right to express themselves. I don't have to like them per say. So I was initially sad when I heard that Twitter had taken action against him,”Fatboy said.
He further said that as disgruntled Twitter users threw harsh criticism at the General, he seemed not to mind and expressed a similar reaction when the same people got arrested for their expressions adding that similar to his critics, the General deserved his right to expression.
Before deactivating his account the General’s last tweet read, “To all revolutionaries, fighters for truth, justice and an egalitarian world,I hear that small voices for the billions of voiceless have been targeted by Big Tech for silencing. No worries! The undeniable truth of the oppressed masses shall always win!
The Fatboy show is hosted by James Onen aka Fatboy, Olive and Sarah every weekday from 6am to 10am on RX Radio.