The UW-News brief: MTN Uganda has shared subscribers’ data with the ruling party NRM to solicit for votes for president Museveni ahead of Feb. 18^th presidential elections

Kampala, 17^th/December/2015; information reaching the Unwanted Witness indicate that MTN Uganda has shared personal data of its 10 million subscribers to ruling party National Resistance Movement (NRM)’s Tuongee Communication Center to campaign on people’s Mobile phones ahead of Feb. 18, 2016 presidential elections.

President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni’s son-in-law Odrek Rwabwogo heads the Tuongee Communication Center whose powers and mandate is still unknown and it has allegedly employed intelligence personnel and University IT undergraduates.

The center is using the code number “0207” to call MTN subscribers and plays the recorded voice of President Museveni which goes; “…Hello, greeting to the people of Uganda, this is the Old man in the hat …”

However this doesn’t give an option of opting out of the unsolicited campaign, which is a requirement under section 26(b) of the Electronic Transaction Act, 2011.

MTN Uganda and other telecom companies on behalf of Government of Uganda registered and collected personal data of over 22 million mobile phone users during the mandatory SIM Card registration that started in 2012. This information/ data has remained in the hands of private telecom operators with unlimited control on access.

For More Information contact;

The Unwanted Witness – Uganda
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P.O.BOX. 71314 Clock Tower Kampala.
Tel: +256 414 697 635, +256-752-810-079
E-mail: info@unwantedwitness.or.ug
Website: www.unwantedwitness.or.ug;