First published at mediascapenews.com
By Godwin Agaba
Media has a way of propelling “unknowns” and “relatively unknowns” into the limelight and centre of things in a way most people cannot imagine.
Today, someone is in total oblivion living somewhere in Cambodia or Malawi, but the next day, if he or she has an account on social media, they could become a sensation just by putting out posts that will be seen by followers all over the world, through an intricate web of online socialization and exchanges.
That is the world of instant communication as it is in the digital era. Mass communication has a long history. From the oral tradition era, through the age of print text and telegraph, to landline and mobile telephony, the world hinges on the exchange of recognizable codes to keep humanity in touch.
By 2015, the phenomenal rise of Donald Trump from a celebrity TV host into a fullblown politician who went on to win the US Presidency against the predictions of traditionally reliable sources marked a twist in the curve shaped by instant communication in influencing the world. Trump used Twitter and Facebook to such great effect to burrow his way to the White House. He made social media part of the daily news cycle, with his early morning or late-night tweets setting the news agenda for hours, days and weeks.
What he said on his accounts dominated public and town hall debates, and ensured that he was literally in everybody’s ears, eyes and head. Media researchers noted that Trump launched more attacks on people and organizations, including media, than he talked policy. And whichever policy issues he addressed was laced with invectives that made sure to attract much discourse. He was a man more defined by his enmities than his policy proposals, but he went on to defy the odds and win, edging out the more restrained and “diplomatic” Hillary Clinton who was the last hurdle in his path to the White House where, again, he was as hard-hitting as he was hard hit by liberals and those who never accepted that he had outfoxed them.
It would be only a matter of time before someone adopted the Trump-style of tweeting. In my judgment, Uganda’s First Son and Commander of Land Forces, Lt. Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, is fast stepping into Trump’s cyber shoes.
Muhoozi joined Twitter in 2014 and has sent out 6,943 tweets as per the counter on his account when I wrote this. Naturally, a “princely” man who appeared to shun the limelight and only kept to close-knit circle of associates, his tweets were mild until last year when he launched a cowboy style. He commented on subjects that sent bewilderment emojis into overdrive, but he never stopped. He burrowed into subjects like the war pitting Tigray against the larger Ethiopia, posted abrasively on the meetings he had with big wigs in the region, etc.
Other than those who reacted to his postings, there was those who always had interest in him by virtue of his father’s position and were always looking for ways to express their feelings about the family as a whole. Muhoozi seemed to provide a way in and there was no one stopping him. Was he posting for himself, his father, the army, the state or someone else was posting on his behalf? This mystery has since, arguably, placed him as the number one twitter space influencer in Uganda, like Trump was.
His following is rapidly growing, now at 486,000 followers. He is said to press the “block” button as he readily as it can get. That is the power that social media affords. One gains rights to determine who he interacts with or not. He has earned himself the title of the “tweeting general” and looks positioned to maximize that rare posting.
Muhoozi’s style of shooting-from-the-hip tweeting is unmatchable by the kind of people least interested in hearing from him-those who wish that he goes silent and are openly hostile to his posts. When the Kakwenza Rukirabashaija group accused him of torture and various other “crimes” related to his being a First Son, and the next day a fake tweet surfaces in his name, it becomes very easy to smell out the offender. The ability to force his enemies to communicate their intentions by hitting them hard has something to do with his military training where you force your enemy to reveal his intentions and positions by firing dummy shots.
There are those who are asking that Muhoozi leaves social media. They argue that he is making himself a target of fire from his haters for nothing yet he could stay in his regal shade as a member of the first family and very senior commander. To them, the tweeting general is making himself a centre of bad attention, risking his good name and the old princely image they had of him. Yet, Muhoozi has always been a target of propaganda and negative publicity, even before he joined the forces. With virtual space coming alive with proliferation of digital communication technologies, he was literally dragged into the centre of the action, with attacks on him, his father, mother, siblings, associates, etc. As a soldier, highly trained and growing up under the tutelage if his military legend father, he wouldn’t be expected to kowtow to the sound of social media blows. A man who has been at the war front on numerous occasions; in Somalia, DRC, CAR and within Uganda, surviving bullets and bazookas at close range, there is no way he can be moved by what haters post on social media.
He seems to be a man on a mission and not about to “surrender. To me, I see the harsh posts as an invitation for him to concentrate his fire wherever his sights are. With a sufficient following and with a lot of interest in what he says, to a point where media houses are now tapping his accounts for major breaking news, I don’t see him putting his “tweeter gun” down soon. His account is under watch from worldwide.
Once he knocks a million followers and has everybody’s attention, he will surely have many surprises to offer. For now, he should use his accounts to make sure he is understood and no allegation goes unchallenged. Information is power!
The writer is American-based Ugandan freelance journalist
