Museveni first Ugandan to reach 1m Twitter followers

MUSEVENI  TWITTER

President Museveni over the weekend clocked one million followers on twitter, becoming the first individual Ugandan to reach the milestone.

Largely seen as typical conservative African leader, in April 2014, Museveni broke out of the shell when he sent out his first tweet, eight years since the social media platform had been founded.

In his first tweet, the Ugandan leader saluted Kyambogo University students for overhauling a car engine to use ethanol.

Since then, Museveni has not looked back on the use of twitter to make his communications to the public.

In the aftermath of the Arua chaos in August 2018, Museveni in a short time made a number of tweets as he spoke about the events in the by-election.

Following the public uproar against social media tax and mobile money tax, president Museveni used social media to defend the new tax.

When contacted to comment about the milestone, Senior Press Secretary to the President Don Wanyama said it terms of popularity, it shows Museveni is a popular figure.

"Of course you must give him credit. He has been not just active letting his followers know what he has been up to, but also engages a lot," Wanyama said.

"You have seen him respond to specific tweets and give feedback to his followers. He is a leader who keeps up with the times."

Comparing Museveni with his political competitors, Kyadondo East's Robert Kyagulanyi, also known as Bobi Wine has 264,000 and is over 700,000 followers short of Museveni whereas opposition and FDC strongman, Dr.Kizza Besigye at 354,000 is over 640,000 followers shy of Museveni's new milestone.