An investigative report by The Wall Street Journal is pinning Huawei technicians to have helped the Ugandan government spy on its political opponents.
According to the report, authorities allegedly got assistance from Huawei employees to intercept encrypted messages sent and received by opposition figures.
Particularly, the company’s engineers are said to have “used Israeli-made spyware to penetrate a WhatsApp chat group” which involves discussion on reknown singer-turned-politician Bobi Wine.
The report suggests that the authorities used the messages to block the plans for Bobi Wine to stage street rallies and it is through this that he was arrested together with his supporters.
The report also points at similar activity happening in Zambia where the telecom company technicians allegedly helped the government access the phones and Facebook pages of opposition bloggers behind a pro-opposition news site that criticized President Edgar Lungu.
The Huawei employees located the bloggers and were in contact with the police units deployed to arrest them.
The investigation, however, does not find conclusive evidence that Huawei executives in China approved any of the activity described in Uganda and Zambia.
ALSO READ: Reasons why Ugandan telecoms can not get rid of Huawei
In a statement issued to The Wall Street Journal itself, a Huawei spokesperson wrote and flagged off the allegations as false.
“Huawei rejects completely these unfounded and inaccurate allegations against our business operations. Our internal investigation shows clearly that its employees have not been engaged in any of the activities alleged. We have neither the contracts, nor the capabilities, to do so.”
