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No, Uganda’s deputy police spokesperson didn’t announce resignation on Twitter

A screenshot of a tweet posted on Facebook announces that Polly Namaye, Uganda’s deputy police spokesperson, is resigning in response to the deadly 18 November 2020 clashes between police and opposition supporters.

The violence followed the arrest of opposition presidential candidate Robert Kyagulanyi, popularly known as Bobi Wine. Uganda is set to hold general elections on 14 January 2020.

“If what is going on in our nation keeps this way, I AM RESIGNING FROM POLICE!!! Uganda Police institution is now militarized,” the tweet reads. It shows a photo of Namaye.

“When you talk you die, and when you keep quiet you die… We took an oath to the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and not to any individual.”

The screenshot bears no date, but the original tweet was posted on 19 November on the account @bnamaye1, which uses the name “Polly B Namaye”.

Did Namaye really announce her resignation on Twitter? We checked.



Fake Twitter account


The tweet is from an imposter account.

On 17 September, the Ugandan police posted a screenshot of the @bnamaye1 account on Twitter, stamped “FAKE ACCOUNT”. 



Namaye did not criticise her colleagues or announce her resignation on Twitter. Africa Check has previously debunked false content posted on the fake account. – Grace Gichuhi




 

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