Baryomunsi slams social media users over Kampala pothole exhibition

The Minister of ICT and National Guidance, Dr Chris Baryomunsi, has condemned the ongoing social media potholes exhibition where Ugandans are using their social media platforms to expose the dilapidated road network in Kampala City.
Addressing the media at the ICT ministry offices in Kampala on Wednesday, Dr Baryomunsi said there is no problem in using social media to highlight the issues affecting society, but cautioned the manner in which the Kampala pothole exhibition is being conducted saying it would more important to raise the matter to the local leaders before resorting to the social media exposure.
“It is important for people to appreciate that they have leaders, if for instance, the roads are in a bad condition, why wouldn’t you bring that to the attention of your leaders?”Dr Baryomunsi asked.

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He added: “If you have taken a picture of a pothole or any other dilapidated infrastructure take it to engage your councilors at the sub county, division or district level, so that the leaders can raise the matter at an appropriate forum. But if you take the (pothole) picture to the streets or social media to demonstrate, will that translate into working on the road?”
The minister further warned against social media users who use the digital space to ''malign'' individuals or entities.
“I want to warn, there is a tendency of Ugandans to misuse these social media spaces and this is the reason why we came up with the Computer Misuse Act.  Let us use technology in a responsible manner, otherwise you will attract us to come with very stringent measures which again you will complain about,” Dr Baryomunsi said.
On Monday this week, a cross section of Ugandans took to Twitter to express their anger and frustrations at the poor state of roads in Kampala under the hashtag #KampalaPotholeExhibition where they shared photos of roads with potholes across the city as they accuse government for turning a blind eye on the deteriorating road conditions which in turn affect the citizens.
However, citizens are not about to back down on the campaign until government appropriately responds to their concerns. 
“Let us continue with our exhibition until we get answers without stammering and noncommittal ambiguities from the responsible ‘above’. No money for fixing the country’s face, yet they’re splashing money in circus country tours in jets!” Mr Jim Spire Ssentongo, the brain behind the Kampala pothole exhibition said on Wednesday via his twitter handle.
The executive director for Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), Ms Dorothy Kisaka, on Tuesday attributed the current poor road network to inadequate funding and delayed release of funds.
“KCCA needs anywhere between Shs75b and Shs100b annually to effectively maintain roads and yet we get only Shs26b for this task. This financial year, KCCA faced a serious delay in the release of funding for both road development and maintenance and that is the reason we could not continue with pothole repairs” Ms Kisaka said.