Your privacy

On AskyourGov.ug, only your name is visible to the general public unless you put other personal information in the body of the request.

We strongly advise you not to put any personal information in the body of the request. That includes not putting your phone number, home address, email address or other personal or family or work details. You don’t need to give any of this information in order to exercise your right to information.

If a Ugandan public Official needs to speak with you by phone to clarify the request, you should send your number to them directly and not via this platform.

Who gets to see my email address?

Your e-mail address will not be shown on the website unless you include in the message or in a footer to your email.

We will not disclose your email address to anyone unless we are obliged to by law, or you ask us to. This includes the public agencies that you are sending requests to. They only get to see an email address @askyourgov.ug which is specific to that request.

If you send a message to another user on the site, then it will reveal your email address to them. You will be told that this is going to happen.

Will you send nasty, brutish spam to my email address?

No! After you sign up to Ask Your Government Uganda we will only send you emails relating to a request you made, an email alert that you have signed up for, or for other reasons that you specifically authorise. We will never give or sell your email addresses to anyone else, unless we are obliged to by law, or you ask us to.

Why will my name and my request appear publicly on the site?

We publish your request on the Internet so that anybody can read it and make use of the information that you have found. We do not normally delete requests (more details).

Your name is part of your request, so has to be published as well. It is only fair, as we're going to publish the name of the civil servant who writes the response to your request. By law, you must use your real name for the request to be a valid ATI request.

Using your real name also helps people get in touch with you to assist you with your research or to campaign with you.

Can I make an ATI request using a pseudonym?

You are advised to use your real name when making an access to documents request. You are exercising a right which is the basis for an open and democratic society and this should be under your real name.

If you feel that your name is very well known – for example you are a famous person or well known journalist – you might want to get a friend or colleague to file the request. If you are really stuck, contact us and we will try to help you file the request; please note that we don’t have the resources to do this for everyone.

Please note that if you use a pseudonym, you will not be able to exercise your legal right to appeal to the Court of Law.

We ask for a first and a last name. If you have more than one first or last name you can use these, but the minimum is a first and last name.

If we see silly names or really obvious pseudonyms, we will remove the request and contact the requester about this.

Please do not impersonate someone else!

Can you delete my requests, or alter my name?

Ask Your Government Uganda is a permanent, public archive of Freedom of Information requests. Even though you may not find the response to a request useful any more, it may be of interest to others. For this reason, we will not delete requests.

Under exceptional circumstances we may remove or change your name on the website, see the next question. Similarly, we may also remove other personal information.