“Politics is actually one of the major reasons I came online. I used to watch people die because of the love they had for the Opposition, especially NUP led by Bobi Wine. For some reason, these guys came in and they would say things that actually, you know, the young people would take seriously. For example, they wake up on a day and say they will have a protest on this day, they are going to strike, go and shout, go and fight, go and do blah, blah, blah and the moment they get there these people are beaten, people lost their families, people lost their wives, people died, some are in prison,” says GenerationsOfficial.
“So when I came in I tried so hard to make sure that for whatever the Opposition, for whatever speeches they made, especially speeches that were inciting hate and violence, I would come out and lay them out really well by explaining to Ugandans: ‘No, this is only a struggle for you and your family.’ For as long as the person you are struggling for is having a good sleep, good food, good water to drink, drives good cars; then you are in the struggle by yourself,” she adds.
Decoding ‘The Struggle’
The so-called struggle is inextricably entwined with GenerationsOfficial’s online activity. And she explains how this is so.
“The struggle means you, yourself. What have you eaten? Is your wife okay? Are your kids going back to school? So that was one of the major reasons as to why I came in and also, there was another reason. I came online when social media was trolling Alien Skin,” GenerationsOfficial insists.
“I am one person who sits down and looks at what is happening and I ask myself, ‘Why are people trolling this person?’ Surely there is a good reason for why this person is being trolled. Then again, where there is that bad part, there’s a good part. So I always find myself on the side of the people that have been trolled. So that’s how I ended talking about Alien Skin, because NUP was against him for some reason and then we came in and defended him. The support and the love grew slowly and we sort of started having families on TikTok. I could have Team Generations, Team Alien Skin, Team Bruno K etc that’s how I grew my following.”