Speculation has swarmed the micro blogging app, Twitter, in Uganda following the sudden disappearance of the popular handle @mkainerugaba from the twitter space a few hours ago.
The handle belongs to the commander of the land forces of the Ugandan army- Uganda Peoples Defence Forces- Gen Muhoozi Kainerugaba.
Gen Muhoozi is also the Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations and son of the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.
The account has been popular with sending controversial tweets and was growing exponentially in the upwards of a half a million followers.
The General is also known to constantly engage with his followers, sometimes in controversial debates about the country’s politics and social life.
His army of followers have been calling and encouraging him to prepare to succeed his father in what has come to be known as the ‘Muhoozi Project.’
While the handle disappeared so suddenly, his last tweet sent waves of speculation amongst his followers who suspected foul play on the micro blogging company, alleging his account had been suspended for possible violation of twitter community rules orchestrated by his rivals..
The controversial tweet which has sparked off the speculations reads:
To all revolutionaries, all fighters for truth, justice and an egalitarian world! I hear that some of us small voices for the billions of voiceless have been targeted by Big Tech for silencing. No worries! The undeniable truth of the oppressed masses shall always win,” he tweeted on April 11, 2022 at exactly 2:51 am, Ugandan time.
Several hours after this tweet, his handle disappeared and his followers could not trace it. It returned a ‘THIS ACCOUNT DOES NOT EXIST’ feedback.
As hundreds of followers took to twitter to harangue the company for its imperialist’ tendencies towards targeted leaders around the world, our TOP SECRETS desk went to work.
First, we have completely failed to get through to the general and his associates.
A source says he has been quite busy of late with a military campaign in the region.
Another source who preferred anonymity confirmed to TOP SECRETS that the account has been deleted.
The sources failed to tell us whether it was deleted by its owner or a hacker.
Twitter too has also not returned our request for a comment.
However, a US-based Ugandan, Mathias Ssemnada, who is also known for his keen interest in digital media, has been quick to conclude in a tweet that someone with access to the account, deactivated it.
“Yes, the account was deleted by the owner. Case closed! Twitter policy on account deletion recommends that a user should reactivated their account within 30days after deactivation. If that’s not done, the account will permanently be deleted. Let the count-down begin,” he wrote.
Ssemanda says on his twitter handle that he is Diplomacy and International Relations researcher @Penn_State interested in International Development and Public Policy, USA-China-Africa relations and a
@Makerere alumnus.
We ask: What exactly has happened? Why would Gen Muhoozi deactivate his account? Is it a stunt? Was it hacked by his enemies? Did he delete it himself?
Unless he comes out to speak soon, or his handlers say something, we can only provide a near- technical explanation rather than an intelligence account.
How then do we know if Someone Deactivates their Twitter Account?
Max D Gray wrote on April 28, 2020:
If you’re one of those people who love using Twitter to comment on the latest news, gossip or media events, then you know how heated things can get.
Whether you have had serious debates, come across some genuine misunderstandings or were simply running your mouth off, it is often easy to get blocked.
However, sometimes a user can seem to disappear for no reason at all.
Whether it is sometime with whom you interact a lot or simply follow, you may wonder where they have gone. You also may wonder if you should take it personally.
Deactivating an account is just one step before completely deleting a Twitter account. It is a way of temporarily disabling your Twitter, but you need to be careful. You have a 30 day period before your Tweets and account are deleted forever.
To deactivate a Twitter account, you will have to go to ‘Account settings’ and search for the option which says ‘Deactivate your account’. Information about the deactivation process will appear. Read and accept by clicking the ‘Deactivate @(your username)’.
Once this option is chosen, the person’s Twitter feed will disappear from other Twitter users. This may be why you won’t be able to find the users you are looking for. However, this process isn’t always instantaneous and it may take several minutes for other users to be able to register this change, especially if they are already viewing your feed. It previously took a few days for Twitter to deactivate an account, but it should now happen pretty quickly.
This 30 day cooling off period doesn’t mean you will lose all your previous Tweets and information. They will be stored in Twitter’s database and if you decide to reactivate it before this time period elapses they will be restored.
The users who follow the deactivated account will notice how they have lost one follower and will be following one person less.
If another user uses the deactivated account name, there won’t be any notifications sent to the other person. It is the email address which is used for all of this correspondence. However, bear in mind that if you deactivate your Twitter account, you will lose your username. This also means that if you have a unique username and someone else uses it, previous users might think this is you.
Many people are not sure whether they have been blocked or the account they followed has in fact been deactivated. This could be because the user wanted to do so or due to a Twitter policy infringement.
To know if someone deactivates their Twitter account, you will know it isn’t blocked because Twitter makes this fairly clear. When a person is blocked, Twitter posts a message that this person has blocked you when you try to go to their feed. Although they disappear from your followers and lists, you will be able to search for this user’s profile in the search bar. You can also type in the URL address ‘https://twitter.com/username’. Once you go onto the account page, there will be no Tweet feed. Instead, there will be a sign stating ‘you are blocked from following @xxx and viewing @xxx’s Tweets’.
Therefore, if you search for the user and their account does not appear, then the account has likely been deactivated, as the Twitter feed would clearly state that you have been blocked otherwise
With this explanation, it is probable that Gen Muhoozi’s account has been deleted.