Uganda’s communications regulator has ordered the internet service providers to shut down social media and messaging platforms two days before the country’s presidential election.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Executive Director of Communications Commission (UCC), Uganda, Irene Sewankambo, ordered telecommunications companies to “immediately suspend any access and use of social media and online messaging platforms.”

A source revealed “The order was retaliation for Facebook deleting pro-government accounts seeking to manipulate public debate before Thursday’s key polls.”

The banned social media sites include Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Signal and Viber in which some of these were already offline on Tuesday.

The source also disclosed that “On Monday, a list of over 100 virtual private networks was distributed to internet service providers by the UCC with orders to block them.

“There has been slow connectivity on the platforms which can be partly due to heavy traffic as a result of the forthcoming elections,” he said.

Bobi Wine, a popular singer and politician, whose real name is Robert Kyagulanyi Ssentamu, said the raid on his compound in Kampala and the arrest of his guards happened while he was doing an interview with Kenya’s Hot 96 FM radio station.

He said “I have to end the interview because I can see soldiers beating my security guards.”

Patrick Onyango, Police spokesman for the capital Kampala, denied the claim by Bobi Wine; he said “We were just rearranging our security posture in the area near his home, specifically removing some checkpoints.”