‘Think again’

Gov’t urged to stop proposed ban on FB

LEADER of the Independent Group Dean Kuku urges the government to ‘call it quits’ on the proposed ban on Facebook.

“The proposed suspension of FB by DCGA cannot go unchallenged because it is simply an act of sabotaging a basic fundamental right enshrined in our country’s constitution,” Kuku said.

“It goes against one of the pillars of our constitution – freedom of expression which we hold close to our chest,” he added.

Kuku said by extension freedom of expression include freedom to find, select and use information

“So when this freedom is tampered with, we would require the peoples’ mandate, a fresh mandate through dissolution of parliament and early elections is the way to go.”

He said the government’s mindset deviates sharply from the expected when the world is merging into a global village, yet DCGA is taking SI into the primitive past.

Kuku said the government’s desire to suspend FB will do more harm than good, because lest you forget FB is not just a communication medium, it is also good for education and business, especially in this time of the corona virus pandemic.

“What I find incredibly strange is government decided or is deciding through absolutely narrow lenses to punish FB which makes the proposal appear to look like a rushed one, when WhatsApp, Instagram, viber and the rest of social media platforms are still available for use.”

He said over the last few months, netizens had become more interested in our country’s affairs, making critique and uncovering how they have been managed and governed.

“Yet when our citizens speak out they are considered as mistreating and discrediting the government.

”It is clear that these are the voices government wants to silence – let us call it operation Hong Kong.”

Kuku said FB is targeted self-servingly by the government in simply the lenses of generating negative news, yet those abuse and criticisms never bite the government to death, adding that the government does not hold a monopoly over ideas and information.

“It would seem that government had opted for the cheapest option when other avenues are still open like lodging a police complaint or defamation claims through the courts.

“What we are seeing now is a government hell-bent on self-protection from the criticisms about heavy hand of politics in ESP disbursements and such considerations only point to human emotions like, fear, suspicion, superstition and paranoia taking over the power to reason in the governance of our nation.”

Kuku said he’d seen a dangerous pattern at play when professionals were fired, a nurses union was suspended and now government is suspending FB.

“It goes to show a government keen on consolidating power, borrowing silencing tactics from the playbook of strongmen dictators which is an existential threat to our values and freedoms.”

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