12 days: that’s how long it took the whole of Government of Uganda to release an official statement on the controversial Kony2012 video. Again what this reminds me is that Social Media is for citizens – if you have been following the story, you have probably noticed that Uganda on the web criticized the video the moment it as launched.

Today the government of Uganda released an official statement on the #Kony2012 campaign. The statement was delivered by the Minister of Information – Ms. Mary Karooro Okurut.

The Information Minister described the Kony 2012 video as follows – “But the impression created in this documentary that Uganda is a war zone and that the conflict is still raging has got serious connotations on this country because it will scare away Uganda’s friends, tourists and potential investors. It does not bring out the fact that Northern Uganda is now under reconstruction and that  government and other organisations are doing a lot to see that it comes up and catches up with the rest of Uganda. All is this left out”

At the same time a women’s movement group today described the video as demeaning to the efforts of the Ugandan Civil society and thousands of both local organisations which have played a key role in championing peace restoration efforts in North and North Eastern Uganda. “If there wasn’t civil society in this country, people in North and North Eastern Uganda would be no more. But we held the whole mantle as the civil society, we went door to door; that is our approach of advocacy. But theirs which is your know, those pla-cards campaigns; that’s what it means in the west.” says Ruth Acheng, Director – Isis, WICCE.