Sharon Miriam Nabiwemba Kiwanuka, is an ardent user of the internet and social media. One of those millennials that are willing to take every opportunity that crops up online as long as it helps them further their dreams and aspirations.

That aside, and like any other Ugandan (and millennial at that), she is online to connect with friends and have a good time. With hundreds of thousands of friends and followers across social media platforms, the graduate in waiting at Makerere University falls in our Kings and Queens section.

Ms Nabiwemba is completing her bachelors degree in Quantity Surveying at Makerere University. She believes the internet is not yet as safe as it should be and insists that the duty to make it safer shouldn’t just fall on the government as regulators but citizens too.

“I think what we need is a safe place to connect with friends, workmates and the world. We are not in the past anymore, we have developed our communication and should pride in that enough as humans to ensure that it is a safe means.” Nabiwemba told MTN Pulse.

An alumna of King’s College Budo, she says that she was proud when her fellow old girls felt that Twitter (a social media platform) was safe enough to narrate their school experiences that they rightly believed were not fair.

“Under normal circumstances, they’d hold placards and demonstrate at the school but they didn’t have to and still got their message heard. The implementation of their demands is another thing but that demonstrates what we see the internet as. Why do we not protect such a space with our lives?” She added.

Nabiwemba acknowledges that we are not where we should be as a people. She especially has constraints as regards the OTT tax which she says has limited so many people from using the internet and social media, the way they should.

“In my view, they shouldn’t tax us for social media. With this unemployment, social media is a big market for some of us that choose to do small businesses and other start ups. When you curtail our market, our sample space is lowered.” She said.

She applauded MTN for introducing platforms where young people can freely express themselves and “have their voices heard.” According to her, young people need more of such platforms because they have a lot to air out.

Connect with Ms Nabiwemba on Twitter and Instagram at @sharon_kiwanuka and @sharon_nabiwemba respectively. How? By loading Pulse Bundles from *157#.