Apart from Prime Minister Hage Geingob who joined Twitter amid pomp and fanfare, Swanu president Usutuaije Maamberua has also announced that he is now tweeting.
Maamberua said he did not join Twitter for votes during the upcoming elections but rather due to a genuine concern he has for unfair media practices.
“This will supplement the airtime given to us as we can now reach more people and communicate our message to them in its truest form as the media is mostly unfair in its coverage,” said Maamberua.
By yesterday, Maamberua had about 17 followers and was following 36 people.
“I believe within a week or so it will be a higher number,” he said, adding that he planned to join three months ago already and that it had nothing to do with the Prime Minister.
“It is a coincidence that I joined a few days after him,” said Maamberua.
He explained that the social platform will allow him to engage young people and understand their thoughts.
“There might be exceptions like when I am in parliament but it is something I will engage in. So far, I have tweeted 14 times,” boasted Maamberua. Geingob, who reportedly joined last week, is enjoying prominence as he has gained 1 400 followers in a week and with just 20 tweets.
Other presidents such as Barack Obama of the United States joined in 2007 and has over 44 million followers, while South Africa’s Jacob Zuma joined in 2011 and has about 327 000 followers.
Similarly, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe joined in 2009 and enjoyed the prominence of about 5 000 followers before he stopped tweeting in the same year.
Armando Guebuza, the president of Mozambique, joined in 2010 and has 2 000 followers.