Policymakers urged to boost data security amid digitalisation push

Digitisation of public services offers African governments an opportunity to enhance service delivery, promote good governance, and foster inclusion for underserved communities, an expert panel focused on digital transformation in the public sector emphasised at GITEX Africa in Morocco.

But experts underlined the critical need for robust data protection and privacy safeguards to secure the continent amid the push to digitise public services.

According to a new report by cybersecurity firm Kaspersky, there was a 14% spike in spyware attack detections on businesses in the African region from 2023 to 2024. Spyware refers to malicious software that is covertly installed on a user’s device to monitor their actions and harvest their personal data.

According to a 2023 Lexology report, 36 of 54 African nations have enacted data protection laws, with frameworks like South Africa’s Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) and Kenya’s Data Protection Act aligning with global standards like GDPR. While welcoming the enactment of stronger data protection laws, Emmanuel Manasseh, the Africa regional director of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), argued that effective data protection goes far beyond having the right policies and regulations in place.

“It’s about building the right infrastructure, starting with more data centres domiciled in Africa,” he said. He noted that, presently, only 2% of the data produced on the continent is stored domestically while 98% is stored abroad, leading to potential security risks.

“We need to charge governments and the private sector to invest in data centres, otherwise, we are going to lose our digital sovereignty,” he said.

“This is something I think we should look at and be careful to make sure African countries play a key role in shaping their digital future.”

Need for stronger frameworks

Experts argued that African nations should consider sharing data securely within a mutually agreed framework to foster scalability and support more effective research and development (R&D) initiatives. They pointed to the African Union’s Data Policy Framework as a vital tool for harmonising laws and enabling cross-border data flows to drive innovation at scale.

James Ayugi, CEO and founder of Webmasters Kenya –  the company that developed Kenya’s online e-Citizen platform – said that there was an urgent need to create awareness among citizens about data protection and privacy, arguing that the lack of information in this area was contributing to alarmist and inaccurate narratives.

“When it comes to data handling in Kenya, we’re guided by the Data Protection Act. We are compliant and certified in terms of collection and storage of data,” he said. “There are controls on who within the government accesses the data, and which kind of data can be accessed. On our part, we don’t directly interact with the data. We only provide the system and technical support,” he added.

Launched in 2014, the platform provides a single window for accessing over 5,000 government services, ranging from passport applications to business registrations, tax filings, and police clearance certificates.

Ayugi said that security need not increase added layers of complexity for users. Anyone with a government-issued identification card and mobile phone can access essential services on e-Citizen anywhere in the country, he explained.

“Previously, to access essential government services, you needed to register with different government departments, maintain multiple accounts, and remember different passwords. Now you register once and have access to all services,” he told African Business on the margins of GITEX.

Private sector urged to help

Hajar el Haddaoui, director general of the Digital Cooperation Organization, a multilateral body which supports digitilisation initiatives, called on governments and the private sector to collaborate more closely to address the bottlenecks standing in the way of digital transformation on the continent. Africa, she noted, is grappling with a significant digital divide, marked by disparities in access to technology, connectivity, and digital literacy.

“Overcoming these challenges demands close collaboration between multiple stakeholders. Digital transformation cannot be planned in silos,” she stressed. “We need to build a holistic ecosystem rather than addressing these challenges in isolation.”