Twaweza East Africa.

Naguru Go down, Suwara Road, Plot 77P.O Box 40163, Kampala

t: +256 312 112815 | e: info@twaweza.org |

Brief No. 4 April, 2018

Frankly speaking

expression are cornerstones of good governance

frontline service providers, it becomes much

assist them.

and other government agencies, and what responses do they receive when they do? What

rely on, and how much do they trust these

or detrimental? And how familiar are they

expression?

Data for the brief come from Twaweza’s new

on the overall methodology is available at

were collected from 1,980 respondents in

Wananchi panel, conducted between 24 and 30 November, 2017.

Ugandans’ opinions and experiences of

Freedom of expression is even more fundmental. At a basic level, this asks whether anybody is above scru�ny and critcism. Are newspapers and other media free to report on corrup�on, for example, and are ci�zens free to express their opinions, even when being cri�cal of na�onal leaders and other powerful figures in society?

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27%

21%

20%

38%

39%

24%

11%

9%

9%

12%

10%

9%

87%

79%

63%

31%

28%

24%

18%

10%

Public Health facility

Public primary / secondary school

Village / Local Council 1 O ces

Water Supplier

Government o ce/ministry/parastatal

Poli party o e / representa ve

Other ins u ons e.g. company/NGO

Government/public website

within the last 7 days between week and a month ago

between a month and 3 months more than 3 months ago

passport

with more than two out of three (65%) having done so in the past month. Eight out of ten (79%)

website.

Source of data: Round 2, 24-30 November 2017; n=1,980

Percentages in charts may not add up to 100% due to rounding1

1

resources (not shown in charts).

in charts).

(14%).

Only very small numbers would use social media (1%), the internet (1%) or email (1%) when

100% 71%

7% 7%

1% 1% 1% 1% 0%

3%

physical visitby phone

through personal connec onsthrough local leaders

social media/ like facebook and twi eronline (visit their website)

by postal mailby email

via faxother

1st response 2nd or later response

Source of data:

budgets (41%)

(% answering yes)

67%

50%

49%

48%

46%

41%

LCIII o ce - how to register a child’s birth

My local school - how much of the school’s capita on grant has been received

NWSC - how to report a broken water point

Any authority - how to report an incident o

My local health center - about stock-outs of medicine

Local authority - where to access district developmentplans or budget plans

Source of data:

and 1 out of 20 has a passport-

(5%) or passport (4%).

voter’s card is higher in rural areas (70%) than urban (54%), and higher among older and poorer people than among the young or the wealthy.

Figure 4: Do you have the following documents ...?

(% answering yes)

90%

89% 91%

91% 88%

90% 89% 89%

95% 91%

92% 90% 91% 90% 88%

66%

63% 69%

70% 54%

61% 64% 66% 68%

74%

75% 69% 69%

64% 53%

56%

56% 56%

56% 57%

59% 58%

52% 52% 55%

56% 62%

52% 51%

59%

5%

5% 5%

4% 6%

5% 5% 6% 6%

2%

3% 6% 6%

3% 7%

4%

4% 4%

4% 5%

4% 4% 4% 7%

4%

4% 5% 3% 3% 4%

all

femalemale

ruralurban

18-2425-3435-4445-54

55+

poorerq2q3q4

richer

Na onal ID card Voter’s card Birth cer ficate Driver’s licence Passport

Source of data:

5

Ei

Only very small numbers describe either social media (1%), newspapers (1%) or the internet as

79%

9%

4%

4%

1%

1%

0%

2%

radiotelevision

mee ngs or gatheringsword of mouth

social medianewspapers

internetother

Source of data:

C

Figure 6: Please tell me if you agree or disagree with the following statements?

85%

87%

89%

14%

12%

10%

A ci zen should be free to cri cise the Presidentfor not listening to advice and making bad

decisions

A ci zen should be free to cri cise a decision madeby the government if they believe it is bad

A ci zen should be free to cri cise his/her MP forbeing lazy and not caring about their cons tuents

agree don't know disagree

Source of data:

President (45%) or the President (44%).

68%

64%

59%

56%

50%

48%

47%

46%

45%

44%

23%

25%

26%

29%

28%

31%

28%

28%

28%

28%

9%

11%

14%

15%

22%

21%

25%

26%

27%

27%

Village or Street chairman

LC III Chair

Your MP

LC V Chair

Government Ins tu on

Chief Administra ve Officer (CAO)

Minister

Prime Minister

Vice President

President

Free Neither Not free

Source of data:

trusted by just under half (45%), the Local Council V councillor (34%) and the President (34%).

members and supporters (21%).

from each of the following people?

21% 63% 15% Opposi on party member/supporter

trust a lot somewhat N/A / don't know / refused distrust a lot

22%

21%

61%

63%

15%

15%

An MP from opposi on party

Opposi on party member/supporter

trust a lot somewhat N/A / don't know / refused distrust a lot

45%

34%

34%

31%

28%

26%

25%

22%

21%

49%

56%

50%

58%

56%

57%

58%

61%

63%

5%

9%

14%

9%

13%

16%

16%

15%

15%

Village / Street chair (LC1)

LC V

The President

Any government o cial

The Prime Minister

An MP from the ruling party

Ruling party member/supporter

An MP from opposi on party

Opposi on party member/supporter

trust a lot somewhat N/A / don't know / refused distrust a lot

Source of data:

T

they are not familiar enough with social media to reach a judgement.

from each of the following sources?

48%

39%

37%

34%

33%

12%

49%

55%

45%

60%

52%

41%

1%

3%

3%

5%

4%

14%

15%

11%

34%

Radio

Public mee ngs

TV

Someone you know well

Newspapers

Social media

trust completely neither distrust completely don't know / don't use it

Source of data:

journalist, and half (51%) would be willing for their name to be published or broadcast. One out of

Figure 10: Would you be comfortable being interviewed by a journalist (from newspapers/TV/radio)? If yes, would you be comfortable sharing your name in the

interview with the journalist?

ne for interview and to share name,

51%

ne for interview but not to share

name, 35%

not comfortable being interviewed,

13%

don't know, 1%

Source of data: Round 2, 24-30 November 2017; n=1,980

erom era )%35( saera larur ni esoht dna ,derahs eb ot eman rieht rof dna deweivretni eb ot

required to broadcast news programmes produced by the government. And three out of four

Six out of ten (58%) say freedom of speech is a human right and so anybody should be

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Figure 11: From each pair of statements, which do you agree with the most?

36%

32%

28%

64%

68%

72%

All TV and radio sta ons should be required to broadcast a daily news programme produced by the government

TV and radio sta ons should be free to produce and broadcast

their own news programmes

The media should have the right to publish any views and ideas without

government control

The government should have the right to prevent the media from publishing things that it considers harmful to society

The news media should constantly inves gate and report on government

mistakes and corrup on

Too much repor ng on nega ve events, like government mistakes and corrup on, only harms the country

Source of data: Round 2, 24-30 November 2017; n=1,980

mistakes.

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Figure 12: From each pair of statements, which do you agree with the most?

22%

28%

29%

78%

72%

71%

Cri cism of leaders is a bad thing, it undermines respect and unity

People should be allowed to cri cise the President / na onal leaders as it helps goverment

correct mistakes, makes the country stronger

Cri cism of leaders is a good thing, it helps stop them from making big mistakes

People should not be allowed to cri cise the President / na onal leaders as it damages the country’s reputa on, undermines their authority

The government should be able to restrict access to any informa on it sees t, even if this allows it to cover up mistakes and corrup on

The government should only be able to restrict access to informa on that is vital to

na onal security, and not any other

Source of data:

access and use

Computer Misuse Act, and just one out of a hundred (1%) are aware of the Access to

Figure 13: Are you aware of …?

3%

3%

1%

Uganda Communica ons Act 2013

Computer Misuse Act

Access to Informa on Act 2005 and Regula ons 2011

Source of data:

6%

4%

3%

2%

1%

3%

1%

1%

Barazas (Community Based Forums)

Uganda Budget Informa on (budget.go.ug)

Ask Your Government (askyourgov.ug)

Government Ci zen Interac on Centre (GCIC)

Government of Uganda Procurement Portal

aware of

par cipated

Source of data:

3. Conclusion

service providers are successful. It should be noted, however, that most of these requests are for

other resources.

-

In truth, the dominance of old forms of media over new technology is a consistent theme through-

phone calls, rather than via social media or government websites. They prefer radio as a source of

-

The second major theme of this brief is freedom of expression – both of the media and of

-

whom are prepared to, for the most part, respond to them. Yet the tension between how things should be and how they are in terms of free expression is an area that needs to be addressed to take Uganda forward.

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