UCC finally formally announced that the Internet, including social media, had been fully restored. A formal statement, official tone, serious font, trust us with statements, the colonisers did an amazing job. The announcement felt less as breaking news and more as a getting gist which already received and analysed because we were online the entire time. Even funnier, the first person to casually hint that the internet was coming back was not the regulator. It was the CDF.
In Uganda, power does not just reside in offices; it tweets. So by the time UCC arrived to “confirm,” the country had already refreshed timelines, replied messages, and rejoined arguments it had unfinished business with.
According to the decision-makers, social media looked like a threat and had a very specific list. Snapchat, for instance, never went anywhere. It stayed working peacefully, no VPN, no drama. Which immediately told us everything we needed to know about the average age of the committee behind the shutdown. This is for certain because no Gen Z would ever forget Snapchat. This was clearly a team that believe interent is the luxury , but like I earlier said , power is power.
During this blackout, VPNs became national heroes. Not just tools but lifelines. Uganda experienced its most productive VPN season since the invention of Connect to Netherlands. We were between Paris , Washington and Berlin every 30 minutes. People who still forward emails with “Sent from iPhone” suddenly became cybersecurity experts. Aunties were sharing VPN links like classified documents. Kampala shops added “VPN installation” next to screen guards and charging ports.
Officially, social media was off. Ku ground everyone was still there. Batteries drained faster. Bundles vanished mysteriously. Every five minutes you were reconnecting to Germany like you had relatives there. VPNs are now being uninstalled, thanked for their service, and sent into retirement.The delay now makes sense though. It felt like the internet was not switched back immediately because someone somewhere was still figuring out which button restores it.
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