I have no Twitter account, says minister Onek

Aug 18, 2016

A Twitter account believed to be the official account of Onek last week attracted a lot of interest on social media.

Hilary Onek, the minister for disaster preparedness, management and refugees, has broken silence on allegations that he has been using social media to criticize the government.

In a statement which has been copied to the minister of information and ICT and Uganda Media Centre, Onek said he has never had a Twitter account and warned that anybody tweeting using his name Eng. Hilary Onek is an imposter.  

A Twitter account going by the handle @hilaryonek, believed to be the official account of Onek, last week attracted a lot of interest on social media after posting uncomplimentary tweets about the Ugandan government.

The tweets quickly threw social media in frenzy, with some people saying the minister had joined the opposition even when still a member of cabinet.

Minister Hilary Onek says he has never had a Twitter account


One of the tweets posted on August 12 at 10:45 said: "Members of the ruling elite. Let's embrace the truth. The moment we stay quiet when something is wrong we'll become braggodoccio demagogues."

Shortly after the comment was made, the Twitter account became a centre of attraction and received hundreds of followers. However, the account was mysteriously deleted later which some people construed as pressure being meted out on the minister by government.

This prompted an unknown person to create the hash tag #BringBackOnek as vitriolic attack on the government ensued.

User Fredrick Tumusime said it is ironical that the minister could be forced to delete his account yet President Yoweri Museveni has publically urged ministers to join social media. "I've lost a follower. That's plain sad," he wrote.

Another user, Wandera Ogalo, said: "So sad that most ministers are treated like children. They are rebuked for stating what the aristocracy considers offensive."

But another follower departed from the rest, saying Onek had committed ‘twitcide' and deserves to be brought to order for his unprofessional actions.

In a statement, Onek has however, denied being party to the comments. He said police is hunting for the culprit and that he is working with police to prosecute the offender.  

"Whoever is doing this is now being pursued by cybercrime division of police," he said in the statement.

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