Uganda: Murari Denies Insulting Mbarara Residents in Viral Screenshot

Former Mbarara City mayoral aspirant Seith Murari has disowned a viral screenshot circulating on social media that appears to show him insulting the people of Mbarara, describing it as the work of impostors trying to tarnish his name.

Murari, who lost the NRM flag to incumbent Mayor Robert Kakyebezi in the party primaries, told reporters on Monday in Mbarara that some individuals were using his campaign posters as their profile pictures to impersonate him and spread false information.

"Technology has made it easy for anyone to misuse their phones. Because of my posters, I've become some sort of celebrity--people put my image as their display picture and then post nonsense. How can someone know it's not me?" he said.

Murari clarified that he did not author the offensive message currently making rounds online. "The screenshot that claims I abused the people of Mbarara is not mine. I have come to learn that the person who posted it is actually someone called MC Mosh," he said.

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He accused certain individuals of deliberately creating pseudo accounts to damage his reputation and mislead the public.

"If you didn't vote for Seith or didn't like my agenda, that doesn't mean you should engage in character assassination. We can also turn to the law--there's a law on computer misuse," he warned.

Murari also defended his decision to employ bloggers and online influencers during the campaign period, insisting it was purely for information dissemination.

"I used influencers and bloggers to pass on information during my campaigns and election period--not to ask people to vote for me," he said.

He added that he had filed a petition over the NRM primaries and would soon announce his next course of action.

"Once the NRM tribunal issues its decision, I will declare whether I intend to run as an independent candidate or not," Murari said.

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