The intricate nature of the Data Protection issue on the African Continent

I have spent the past five years in the Data Protection and Privacy field. For the most part, I have been keen on new developments in the European Union and the Council of Europe. With time, I took interest in the United States of America and went further to take an online Data Privacy and Technology course with the Harvard Business School. I recall being one of the very few people from the African continent attending this course. The course challenged me enough that I was soon prompted to read as many books in order to arrive at my own conclusion on the issue.

While I appreciated the literature, I soon realized that I had spent substantial time harnessing a foreign approach to Data Protection. I was attempting to transplant the English Oak to the African Continent and expecting it to flourish1. I was completely detached. How could my skills add value to the continent if I was this detached from the continent? As soon as I came to this realization, I decided to take an interest in Data Protection on the African continent. It became more apparent that in most parts of Africa, hunger, conflict, poverty, disease, lack of access to electricity and internet were the prevailing issues. Data Protection was not a critical issue for people struggling to find the next meal.

More recently, World coin stirred up our neighbours with a proposition to access their biometric data (Iris scans) in exchange for less than $502. From a different stand point, this may sound ludicrous. But according to the State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition Report of 20233, 14,800,000 Kenyans were severely food insecure while 38,300,000 were moderately or severely food insecure between 2020 and 2022. What incentive would they have to choose Data Protection over feeding their families? Data Protection seemed like a Global North problem.

I knew that I had to find a different approach to the problem. It was important to find the right balance between the prevailing and emerging problems. I reached out to my friend Tommy – a software developer – with a proposition on how we could, at least, solve the internet and electricity problem. Our research led us to the conclusion that we needed significant funding which we didn’t have. So, we put a pin on that. I continued to be haunted by my failure to address some of these problems; to add my brick to everyone’s efforts. I started to tinker with the idea of solving the food insecurity problem.

According to my research, out of the estimated 47,300,000 Ugandans as at 2022, 34,000,000 were moderately or severely food insecure between 2020 and 2022. This meant that only 13,300,000 could comfortably afford food. Inevitably such a population would not be concerned about Data Protection. Why would retailers worry about data practices of the tech companies that are providing cheaper avenues to access markets? I came to the rude awakening that my efforts in the past five years had been awfully out of touch with the reality in my country. There had to be an alternative approach.

I returned to Tommy with yet another proposal. This time to alleviate food insecurity. During our engagement, I proposed a solution that relies on the ubuntu concept that is still in the African people’s psyche – an online food bank. After a long call, he was optimistic that this was achievable. We needed to appeal to the Ugandan people’s empathy to share their excess food because no person should go to bed hungry through no fault of their own. In any event, the climate activists were concerned about the food waste4. This would hit many birds with one stone. I crossed my fingers and hoped it would work. As I write this article, we are in the final stages of building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). I am confident that while this solution might not significantly move the needle, it will make a difference, however slight.

As I conclude, I am alive to the insignificance of my efforts. Therefore, I would like to appeal to the African countries to reinforce their efforts towards alleviating suffering on the continent. As long as our legs are still stuck in the muddy waters, we may find difficulty in approaching emerging issues. Secondly, I would like to appeal to governments to provide sufficient resources to Data Protection Authorities. While their mandate may not seem like an urgent need, it is equally important. We must find the right balance. Thirdly, as we build towards firmer efforts at Continental level, I would like to appeal to the regional blocks to provide an extra layer of protection to their member states.

Finally, I would like to also appeal to the African Union to strengthen their efforts towards protecting the personal data of every national of a country within the Union. This may require rethinking the current approach of the Malabo Convention and perhaps benchmarking on the effect of the GDPR5. If we wait on all countries to enact their laws and put in place robust Data Protection measures, it will take years. Time that we do not have especially as the flood gates of Artificial Intelligence open up. Without a deliberately contextualized approach, Africans remain vulnerable to tech companies who have turned this continent into a playground.