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05May

Why Data Rights are Central to Protection of Online Freedom

Author CIPESA Posted on

By CIPESA Staff Writer |

In an increasingly digitised world, safeguarding data rights has become central to protecting individuals’ rights to access and share information, express themselves, and associate using the internet and related platforms.

Advances in technology, alongside growth in mobile subscriptions and increased use of smartphones have pushed individuals online to shop, interact, share and search for information, learn, and work, alongside digitalisation of more sectors of economies and public services. As a result, there is increased collection, processing and sharing of personal data. With many users of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) not aware of the implications of their use of digital technologies and how their rights are compromised, the potential for the data to be manipulated and abused by individuals, private companies and governments is ever-present. 

At the end of 2019, 477 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa were subscribed to mobile services, accounting for 45% of the region’s population. According to the GSMA, the group that represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, smartphone adoption continues to rise rapidly in the region, reaching 50% of total connections in 2020. Meanwhile, as of 2019, there were 469 million registered mobile money accounts in Sub-Saharan Africa, a figure that was expected to reach half a billion in 2020.

From the provision of eServices, to digital identity (or digital ID), voters registration, drivers’ license applications and issuance, through to mobile phone SIM card registration, public and private service bodies including immigration authorities, law and security enforcement, health service providers, telecom operators, and digital financial service providers are among the big collectors and processors of personal data in Africa. Increasingly, the nature of personal data being collected is expanding, to include biometric data such as facial images or fingerprints.

What is Personal Data?

Personal data refers to information that relates to an identified or identifiable natural person by which that person can be identified, “in particular by reference to an identification or to one or more factors specific to his/her physical, physiological, mental, economic, cultural or social identity.”

Upholding individuals’ data rights implies their personal data must be kept private and should not be known, stored, or used by unauthorised parties. Upholding data rights is then a central pillar of the long-recognised right to privacy, which national laws and international human rights frameworks such as the international bill of rights guarantee. Notably, the right to privacy is pivotal in a democratic society as it is both an enabler and reliant on the enjoyment of other rights, such as freedom of expression, information and association.

As businesses, governments, and civil society organisations seek to maximise value of increased data flows, the dangers of cyberthreats, cybercrimes, surveillance, and general data misuse pose threats that require national, regional, and international action to address. At the same time, excessive restrictions on the flow of data between countries can undermine regional economic benefits if no best practices are adopted on how data should flow, be stored, protected, and disposed – Building an Enabling Environment for Inclusive Digital Transformation in Africa.

Poor or missing legal protections for personal data, abuse of existing laws by state agencies including security agencies and by private companies, and poor digital security practices by citizens, are exacerbating the erosion of many African citizens’ data rights. With increased data collection has come increased state surveillance and data privacy breaches. Worryingly, many African states are increasingly using data to undermine citizens’ digital freedoms, such as by conducting real-time monitoring, surveillance of citizens’ social media and intercepting telephone communications. In some instances, this has led to arbitrary arrests and prosecutions of individuals.

Moreover, telecoms and internet service providers are required by law to comply with user information requests or requests for assistance from the government, including the common requirement to install software to facilitate the state’s conduct of surveillance and monitoring of citizens’ communications. Many governments are indeed accessing subscribers’ data from telecom companies with limited oversight and hardly any transparency. Even where service providers feel constrained about regulator directives, they are often overcome by the need to continue operations and agree to restrict data rights. 

In such countries, digital rights are under threat and, resultantly, citizens are losing the appetite to participate in public affairs, and they often practice self-censorship in their engagements over digital platforms. This undermines the philosophy of a free and open internet that drives innovation, enables the enjoyment of rights and improvement of livelihoods.

In many countries, the digital rights situation worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, as governments suspended respect for several rights, collected lots of private data and conducted surveillance without sufficient oversight, safeguards, or transparency.

The State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2020 Report found that the fight against Covid-19 has had a fundamental impact on digital rights and freedoms including freedom of expression, access to information, privacy, assembly and association. It has also undermined civic participation and, in many countries, deepened the democracy deficit.

In responding to the Covid-19 pandemic, countries across the continent adopted a series of Covid-19 regulations and practices, including deploying surveillance technologies and untested applications, to enable them conduct lawful collection and processing of personal data for purposes of tracing, contacting, isolating and treating those found to be positive or their contacts. These measures were quickly adopted and the collection of personal information continues, and in some cases without adequate regulation or oversight – State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2020: Resetting Digital Rights Amidst the Covid-19 Fallout

In several African countries, there are inadequate safeguards and limited oversight to guard against potential violations of digital rights arising out of the implementation of laws, regulations, systems, and practices imposed to fight Covid-19. According to the United Nations, the use of emergency powers and tools of surveillance technology to track the spread of Covid-19 must be non-intrusive, limited in time and purpose and abide to the strictest protections and international human rights standards governing privacy and personal data.

Concerns over data handling during the fight against Covid-19 and how that harmed digital rights informed the formation of the #RestoreDataRights movement, that is promoted by a group of African and international civil society, academic and philanthropic partners. Launched at the end of 2020, it is premised on the conviction that our fundamental human rights – including those exercised in cyberspace and over our personal and sensitive data – should be respected and upheld during and after the Covid-19 public health emergency. Furthermore, decision-making processes around how sensitive data are collected, shared and used to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic in Africa should be transparent, inclusive and accountable.

There has also been a proliferation of retrogressive laws, procedures and practices such as the systematic criminalisation of online communication and dissent, the arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, flawed prosecution and excessive punishment of government critics. On a continent where digital authoritarianism is rising, the legitimisation of surveillance, censorship, and breaches in the rule of law during the coronavirus crisis could create a new normal that erodes internet freedom for years to come. 

There is therefore a need to have strong data protection laws; to educate citizens to protect their data and to demand their digital rights; and to have strong, well-resourced and independent data protection authorities. It is also crucial to establish clear and well-publicised complaint mechanisms in cases of data privacy breaches. Meanwhile, private companies should institute stringent measures to protect data privacy and integrate ‘privacy by design’ in any applications they develop, partner with civic actors and public officials to promote digital rights, and be transparent about their data handling practices.

These measures would enable accountable data governance that respects citizens’ data rights and advances wider internet freedoms in Africa. Further, they would enable robust protection of digital rights and data rights, while providing scope for data openness that enables harnessing of data to serve the legitimate public interest.

04May

Botswana ICT Challenges: In Quest For A Knowledge-Based Society

Author CIPESA Writer Posted on

By Hopeton S. Dunn |

During his inauguration in November 2019, Botswana’s President, Mokgweetsi Masisi, declared his intention to diversify Botswana’s economy and transform it into a knowledge-based one. President Masisi was acutely aware that Botswana’s rapid rise to become an upper middle income country was largely based on earnings from diamond exports and, to a lesser extent, high-end tourism, industries that are either volatile or unsustainable in the longer run.

Botswana has a record of economic transformation which saw Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grow at an average  rate of 8.78% between 1991 and 2014. In the same period, literacy levels moved from 68.58% in 1991 to 87.7% by 2014, having been at 34% in 1981. However, job creation has not kept pace with population growth or the increasing literacy levels. According to Statistics Botswana, while unemployment stood at 10.75% in 1981, by 2013 it had grown to 20%.

Between 2015 and 2019, GDP grew by an average of 2.59 %, a significant fall from the preceding decades.

To move  from a minerals-led to a knowledge-based economy, the government undertook to implement reforms to expand employment and make Botswana’s products and services more competitive on the world market. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector was expected to contribute to this effort. As an indicator of its prospects, cellular phone subscriptions moved from 13 per 100 inhabitants in 2000, to over 169 per 100 of inhabitants in 2014. There was a distinct possibility of ICT opening up new jobs and development opportunities, especially for youth in new occupational areas such as digital design, online content production, and data analytics. According to the Youth Empowerment Minister, Tumiso Rakgare: “We want to move with new trends and best practices in the content creation industry.”

This would require improved internet access, new e-government strategies, and expanded use of ICT as measures towards job creation and ICT-enabled development.  As is shown below, it has been a mixed record.

Amazing Infrastructure

Over the last decade, Botswana invested extensively in infrastructure to support the vision of a digital-enabled development, with USD 32.3 million pumped into the Trans-Kalahari Fibre Network. The network was intended to deliver 2,000 kilometres of optical fibre across the land-locked country’s southern regions and to link into nearby countries such as Namibia and South Africa.

Another fibre-optic loop links the capital, Gaborone, in the south, to the northern population hub of Francistown. The country is also linked to the rest of Africa through the Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy) and the West Africa Cable System (WACS).

Against the background of these major investments, Botswana’s ICT policy and regulatory arrangements were to be repurposed to help translate this elaborate infrastructure into advanced levels of corporate communication, citizen access and high-speed connectivity for national development. The current national strategic masterplan, dubbed Vision 2036, aims to realise these goals by transforming Botswana from an upper middle-income country to a high-income country by 2036. Its implicit aim is to use ICT as a transformational tool towards creating a knowledge-based society.

Deficits and Challenges

While the broad provisions of the strategic plan remain relevant and admirable, it is evident that a foundation of technological transformation was not explicitly embedded in the Plan’s published descriptors. A dedicated ICT pillar, as a necessary component of the sought after knowledge society, seems to be missing. While there has been progress in implementing such laws and policies as the Cyber Crime and Computer Related Crimes Act (2018) and the Botswana National Cyber Security Strategy (2020), other approved policies and laws remain in abeyance. These include the Data Protection Act, which was approved by Parliament in 2018 but has not yet implemented. This is because the establishment of some key institutional structures and regulations are awaited. The same is true for Botswana’s controversial Media Practitioners Act 2008, which is now facing revocation and a possible re-write.

If the noble objectives in Vision 2036 are to be realised, Botswana’s policy and implementation structures will need to be more agile in order to meet the commitment for a knowledge-based society. This goal will also remain challenging given the economic setbacks caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Despite the high levels of infrastructure investment, there is little evidence of an expected incoming flow of ICT-related foreign direct investments, or of innovative local investors preparing to build out digital platforms and offer new creative services. It is these initiatives and hoped-for investments that would generate the increased employment levels that the Youth Empowerment Minister had envisaged. In reality, expanded career opportunities such as those in content development services, animation, film production and digital design appear slow to emerge, but are necessary catalysts. Hopefully, the expected early fruits of the vast infrastructure investment in an intended diversified knowledge economy will emerge soon.

One of the agencies that could help to drive the process of renewal is the Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA), whose function it is to oversee a converged ICT and Broadcasting environment – key building blocks of the digital, knowledge-based economy. BOCRA’s roles include oversight over the electronic media, regulation of internet service provision and promoting the broader telecommunications network systems that are needed to power the development of data intensive services.

Established in 2013, the well-resourced BOCRA inherited considerable experience from its predecessor, the Botswana Telecommunications Authority. The institutional restructuring that gave rise to BOCRA was clearly part of a process of telecoms liberalisation that spawned several small internet service providers (ISPs) and new radio broadcasters. The regulatory restructuring also led to the creation of Botswana Fibre Networks Limited, BOFINET, the infrastructure provider, and to the emergence of a separate privatised BTC mobile telephony offshoot called BeMobile. These too should be playing a more dynamic and visible part in building the knowledge society. This new BeMobile company has become a cell phone competitor to its more established incumbents, Orange and Mascom.

This liberalised competitive framework was undergirded by some key legislative reforms that were meant to give legs to the country’s strategic development plan, Vision 2036, and no doubt to the new drive for knowledge society status. The liberalisation process and its outcome were given context by Botswana’s earlier  National ICT Policy of 2004, widely known as ‘Maitlamo’, that foreshadowed many of the current regulatory and legislative changes.  The Communications Regulatory Authority Act of 2012 that established BOCRA as a converged regulator, was also meant to help streamline the country’s ICT strategies, but key challenges remain.

Poor Network Service

Contrary to BOCRA’s 2015 User Survey, which indicated that almost 80% of internet users were satisfied with service quality, there appears to be deepening concerns about effective internet access and network service quality by a growing community of smartphone users. Stats Botswana indicates that while mobile broadband subscription was at 3 per 100 of inhabitants in 2000, this had grown to 67 per 100 of inhabitants by 2017. Despite this dramatic growth in mobile cellular subscription, there are complaints that prices on mobile airtime and on data bundles are challenging for lower income users, including students and some educators who have been forced to migrate online in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic’s effect on educational service delivery.

A February 4, 2018 report in the Sunday Standard newspaper said BOCRA, the regulator, had released a report on recent consumer complaints against telecoms service providers. The newspaper report said that, according to BOCRA, the complaints concerned, among others, billing, missing airtime and data bundles, faulty telephone lines, slow internet speeds, mobile money and termination of contracts. In an  earlier report  in The Gazette newspaper of March 30, 2017, it was alleged that consumer prices were inflated. The newspaper posed questions to operators, including,  “why do all mobile operators charge almost similar – between 60 thebe and 1.50 (pula) per MB?” The Gazette also inquired about what operators thought of “consumer complaints about the high prices in the market”. The report suggested that to some users, internet service provision in Botswana was expensive, spotty and way too slow for promised package speeds.

In light of these challenges, a key question for policy-makers is how regulation of internet prices and mobile service quality will be carried out in order to facilitate innovation among youthful ICT enthusiasts and digital business ventures. Should there be more consistent oversight over mobile termination rates and more aggressive monitoring of service quality?

Yet, getting to the coveted ‘knowledge society’ threshold cannot be based primarily on improved ICT service delivery and reduced pricing alone. It must also include reforms in broadcasting policy, provisions for cost-effective management of big data, training in cultural and creative industries, and competitive regional marketing for design and production services. While the critical issues of digital access, network quality and affordable prices remain central to successfully driving buildout of the future knowledge society, other factors, such as incentives for private investments, wide-scale ICT training and agile policy implementation are also crucial in transforming one of Africa’s most peaceful and prosperous countries.

Hopeton S. Dunn is a a Professor of Media and Communications at University of Botswana. As a   CIPESA Fellow, he is interested in communications policy reform, digital literacy and inclusion, effective internet access and equity, especially as they relate to people in the Global South. His work spans media regulation, technology policy-making, and new theoretical constructs for development. 

24Apr

One Year In: Covid-19 Deepening Africa’s Democratic Regression

Author CIPESA Writer Posted on

By CIPESA Staff Writer |

In September 2020, our research on the State of Internet Freedom in Africa established that the ultimate effect of the measures instituted in fighting Covid-19 was that they had deepened the democracy deficit in several African countries. This was because, increasingly, more states in the region had fallen short of living up to their citizens’ democratic expectations as they implemented measures to fight the pandemic.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was faring badly in its democratic credentials, fighting for bottom position with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Of the 44 African countries included in the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index for 2019, half were characterised as authoritarian regimes and many of the others were semi-authoritarian.

As anticipated, it has gotten worse. According to the Democracy Index for 2020, the number of authoritarian regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa last year rose from 22 to 24 – more than half of the 44 countries in the region that the index covered. Burkina Faso and Mali were the new entrants to the unsavoury ranks of authoritarian regimes. Many Sub-Saharan African countries are concentrated at the bottom of the index, and the region boasts just one “full democracy” – Mauritius. During 2020, 31 countries in the region were downgraded, eight stagnated, and just five scored better.

“After experiencing two consecutive years of significant setbacks, democracy in Africa appears to be in a perilous state,” notes the index. The region’s overall average score “fell to by far the lowest score for the continent since the index began in 2006.” The fight against Covid-19, muddled and stolen elections, and insecurity (including Jihadist insurgencies in west Africa), all played their part in the democratic regression experienced in the region.

As is shown in the 2020 edition of the State of Internet Freedom in Africa report, a plethora of regressive measures were introduced in fighting the pandemic, and they had starkly undermined democracy, marked by a dwindling respect for rights to expression, information, assembly, and privacy. In many instances, these measures resulted in a lower level of stakeholder engagement in public affairs and a decline in governments’ transparency and accountability.

Deepening the Democracy Deficit: The democratic regression in a number of countries in the region could persist beyond the Covid-19 crisis, unless the measures imposed are reversed and deliberate efforts are taken to promote greater respect for fundamental rights and freedoms.

While the Arab Spring was a turning point on digital rights in the region, Covid-19 could be another profoundly negative watershed moment. The Arab Spring, during which social media aided organising against autocratic regimes, some of which were overthrown, opened the eyes of many African authoritarian regimes to the power of digital technologies, and they went ahead to make laws to prescribe cyber crimes, to enable interception of communications, to control use of online platforms, and they started instituting measures such as website blockages, censorship of short messaging services, and disruption of networks. – State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2020

According to the index, world over the biggest regressions during 2020 occurred in the most authoritarian countries, where regimes took advantage of the global health emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic to persecute and crack down on dissenters and political opponents.

Full democracy Flawed democracy Hybrid regime Authoritarian regime
Mauritius Cape Verde Malawi Mali Eswatini
Botswana Madagascar Mauritania Guinea
South Africa Senegal Burkina Faso Togo
Namibia Liberia Angola Cameroon
Ghana Tanzania Gabon Djibouti
Lesotho Kenya Mozambique Guinea-Bissau
Uganda Ethiopia Eritrea
Zambia Niger Burundi
Sierra Leone Zimbabwe Equatorial Guinea
Benin Congo Brazzaville Chad
Gambia Rwanda CAR
Ivory Coast Comoros DRC
Nigeria

The index states that the decline in Africa’s overall democracy score in 2020 was partly driven by coronavirus-related lockdowns, which had a negative bearing on civil liberties, including stripping citizens of their freedom to assemble and travel, and causing severe interruption to livelihoods. There was high-handedness of the police in enforcing curfews, in such countries as Nigeria (where police killed people in enforcing the lockdown), Kenya and Senegal.

Africa’s deterioration was also precipitated by declining scores for many countries in the category of electoral process and pluralism, with disputed elections in Tanzania and Guinea cited as examples. Of note, Malawi’s standing improved on account of a smooth election held during the year, in which the incumbent president was defeated by an opposition candidate.

Yet some countries saw Covid-19 as an opportunity to stifle opposition campaigns during election times. The index states: “Constraints placed on political activity – applied disproportionately for the opposition – ahead of January 2021 elections in Uganda illustrated how autocrats use the excuse of new threats such as coronavirus to crack down on the opposition and hold on to power during a time of crisis.”

Covid-19 control measures have chipped away at many of hallmarks of a democratic society, such as the ability by citizens to participate in civic matters and the conduct of public affairs. In the countries where civil liberties have been eroded the most, growing hostility of governments to dissenting opinions, including on their handling of Covid-19, has contributed to the adoption of stringent measures and the enactment and enforcement of repressive laws on surveillance, fake news and criminal defamation and practices such as legal threats, intimidation, arrests, detentions, prosecutions, and state surveillance.

These measures have, in turn, forced human rights defenders, journalists, activists, the political opposition, and ordinary citizens to self-censor, disengage from participating in public affairs, and refrain from exercising their rights to participate online and offline. This has been the case in countries such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Egypt, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, and Algeria. Yet, in the absence of engaged citizens, the respect for human rights, including the rule of law, suffers. Such a trend, if left unchecked, could persist well beyond the coronavirus crisis.

While Covid-19 could have served as a driver towards improving access and use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Africa, it has potentially widened the digital divide on the continent, yet for the most part the actions of many governments have undermined, rather than promoted, greater access and affordability of digital technologies.

Although technology can play an important role in containing the pandemic, its application should not violate human rights. In most countries, the measures introduced to check the spread of Covid-19 were necessary to address a public health emergency, but some were applied beyond the intended purpose, and need to be revised to imbed human rights principles. As it is, the imposition of unregulated, unchecked and excessive emergency measures by governments in collaboration with non-state actors during the pandemic period raises fundamental questions on their commitment to protecting digital rights. Thus, the debate about the ethics and legality of measures undertaken, and the extent of the associated risks, is imperative in resetting digital rights amidst the Covid-19 fallout.

See more of our work on the impact of Covid-19 in the African digital rights and democracy landscape.

24Apr

One Year In: Covid-19 Deepening Africa's Democratic Regression

Author admin Posted on

By CIPESA Staff Writer |

In September 2020, our research on the State of Internet Freedom in Africa established that the ultimate effect of the measures instituted in fighting Covid-19 was that they had deepened the democracy deficit in several African countries. This was because, increasingly, more states in the region had fallen short of living up to their citizens’ democratic expectations as they implemented measures to fight the pandemic.

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was faring badly in its democratic credentials, fighting for bottom position with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Of the 44 African countries included in the Economist Intelligence Unit Democracy Index for 2019, half were characterised as authoritarian regimes and many of the others were semi-authoritarian.

As anticipated, it has gotten worse. According to the Democracy Index for 2020, the number of authoritarian regimes in Sub-Saharan Africa last year rose from 22 to 24 – more than half of the 44 countries in the region that the index covered. Burkina Faso and Mali were the new entrants to the unsavoury ranks of authoritarian regimes. Many Sub-Saharan African countries are concentrated at the bottom of the index, and the region boasts just one “full democracy” – Mauritius. During 2020, 31 countries in the region were downgraded, eight stagnated, and just five scored better.

“After experiencing two consecutive years of significant setbacks, democracy in Africa appears to be in a perilous state,” notes the index. The region’s overall average score “fell to by far the lowest score for the continent since the index began in 2006.” The fight against Covid-19, muddled and stolen elections, and insecurity (including Jihadist insurgencies in west Africa), all played their part in the democratic regression experienced in the region.

As is shown in the 2020 edition of the State of Internet Freedom in Africa report, a plethora of regressive measures were introduced in fighting the pandemic, and they had starkly undermined democracy, marked by a dwindling respect for rights to expression, information, assembly, and privacy. In many instances, these measures resulted in a lower level of stakeholder engagement in public affairs and a decline in governments’ transparency and accountability.

Deepening the Democracy Deficit: The democratic regression in a number of countries in the region could persist beyond the Covid-19 crisis, unless the measures imposed are reversed and deliberate efforts are taken to promote greater respect for fundamental rights and freedoms.

While the Arab Spring was a turning point on digital rights in the region, Covid-19 could be another profoundly negative watershed moment. The Arab Spring, during which social media aided organising against autocratic regimes, some of which were overthrown, opened the eyes of many African authoritarian regimes to the power of digital technologies, and they went ahead to make laws to prescribe cyber crimes, to enable interception of communications, to control use of online platforms, and they started instituting measures such as website blockages, censorship of short messaging services, and disruption of networks. – State of Internet Freedom in Africa 2020

According to the index, world over the biggest regressions during 2020 occurred in the most authoritarian countries, where regimes took advantage of the global health emergency caused by the coronavirus pandemic to persecute and crack down on dissenters and political opponents.

Full democracy Flawed democracy Hybrid regime Authoritarian regime
Mauritius Cape Verde Malawi Mali Eswatini
Botswana Madagascar Mauritania Guinea
South Africa Senegal Burkina Faso Togo
Namibia Liberia Angola Cameroon
Ghana Tanzania Gabon Djibouti
Lesotho Kenya Mozambique Guinea-Bissau
Uganda Ethiopia Eritrea
Zambia Niger Burundi
Sierra Leone Zimbabwe Equatorial Guinea
Benin Congo Brazzaville Chad
Gambia Rwanda CAR
Ivory Coast Comoros DRC
Nigeria

The index states that the decline in Africa’s overall democracy score in 2020 was partly driven by coronavirus-related lockdowns, which had a negative bearing on civil liberties, including stripping citizens of their freedom to assemble and travel, and causing severe interruption to livelihoods. There was high-handedness of the police in enforcing curfews, in such countries as Nigeria (where police killed people in enforcing the lockdown), Kenya and Senegal.

Africa’s deterioration was also precipitated by declining scores for many countries in the category of electoral process and pluralism, with disputed elections in Tanzania and Guinea cited as examples. Of note, Malawi’s standing improved on account of a smooth election held during the year, in which the incumbent president was defeated by an opposition candidate.

Yet some countries saw Covid-19 as an opportunity to stifle opposition campaigns during election times. The index states: “Constraints placed on political activity – applied disproportionately for the opposition – ahead of January 2021 elections in Uganda illustrated how autocrats use the excuse of new threats such as coronavirus to crack down on the opposition and hold on to power during a time of crisis.”

Covid-19 control measures have chipped away at many of hallmarks of a democratic society, such as the ability by citizens to participate in civic matters and the conduct of public affairs. In the countries where civil liberties have been eroded the most, growing hostility of governments to dissenting opinions, including on their handling of Covid-19, has contributed to the adoption of stringent measures and the enactment and enforcement of repressive laws on surveillance, fake news and criminal defamation and practices such as legal threats, intimidation, arrests, detentions, prosecutions, and state surveillance.

These measures have, in turn, forced human rights defenders, journalists, activists, the political opposition, and ordinary citizens to self-censor, disengage from participating in public affairs, and refrain from exercising their rights to participate online and offline. This has been the case in countries such as Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi, Egypt, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Morocco, Kenya, and Algeria. Yet, in the absence of engaged citizens, the respect for human rights, including the rule of law, suffers. Such a trend, if left unchecked, could persist well beyond the coronavirus crisis.

While Covid-19 could have served as a driver towards improving access and use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Africa, it has potentially widened the digital divide on the continent, yet for the most part the actions of many governments have undermined, rather than promoted, greater access and affordability of digital technologies.

Although technology can play an important role in containing the pandemic, its application should not violate human rights. In most countries, the measures introduced to check the spread of Covid-19 were necessary to address a public health emergency, but some were applied beyond the intended purpose, and need to be revised to imbed human rights principles. As it is, the imposition of unregulated, unchecked and excessive emergency measures by governments in collaboration with non-state actors during the pandemic period raises fundamental questions on their commitment to protecting digital rights. Thus, the debate about the ethics and legality of measures undertaken, and the extent of the associated risks, is imperative in resetting digital rights amidst the Covid-19 fallout.

See more of our work on the impact of Covid-19 in the African digital rights and democracy landscape.

21Apr

Tech to the Rescue Against Covid-19: Reflections from West Africa

Author admin Posted on

By Afi Edoh |

The role of technology in aiding the Covid-19 fight in Africa is increasingly undisputed. As Covid-19 cases have grown in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo, governments and the private sector have played a decisive role in the three countries’ technology-based response measures, with large scale national efforts to minimise the social-economic impact of the pandemic.

In Ghana, in the wake of the pandemic, the Ministry of Health partnered with the Ministry of Information to leverage websites, USSD short codes, toll free lines, alongside broadcast media to share with the citizenry information on the virus spread and response management measures. The government also rolled out utility (water and electricity) subsidies and reduced from 9% to 5% the communications service tax as part of its relief interventions. Telecommunications operators also supported the fight against Covid-19, with MTN and Vodafone supporting distance learning with zero-rated access to education content for subscribers.

In Togo, in a move to promote cashless transactions, telecommunications operator Moov waived fees on mobile money transactions and payments for utilities. Meanwhile, the Association of Volunteers for the Promotion of Youth (AV-JEUNES) launched a mobile application which provides reliable information on Covid-19, practical advice and awareness videos in French and four additional local languages. Initially intended to provide sexual and reproductive health information to youth, women and vulnerable populations, the platform known as eCentre Convival has supported the fight against misinformation and helped educate pregnant women and young people about the coronavirus. In the telecommunications sector, service providers rolled out reduced price offers and doubled internet speeds.

Meanwhile,  partly to fight the spread of false and misleading information on the virus, Orange Cote d’Ivoire launched a media platform to allow print, online and broadcast media to keep abreast of its Covid-19 response and relief measures. MTN and the Ivorian government partnered to support data-driven decision making in the fight against the virus. Like in Ghana, MTN Cote d’Ivoire waived mobile money transaction fees and subsidised internet services. As part of social-economic relief strategies, the Ivorian government announced a grace period for utility service payments.

 Covid 19- Statistics at April 2021

Country Confirmed case Recovered Deaths Date
Togo 12,610 10,350 121 April 20, 2021
Ghana 91,783 89,661 772 April 16, 2021
Ivory Coast 45,570 45,160 274 April 20, 2021

These examples from the three countries point to a variety of ways in which governments, telecommunications operators and innovators have ensured service continuity, promoted digitalisation and access to reliable information in the face of Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Indeed, an opinion assessment through an online survey and interviews conducted by the author among 42 individuals, indicated that online platforms including social media were the primary means through which citizens in the three countries stayed informed during the pandemic. However, whereas there have been efforts to provide content in local languages, English and French remained predominant, excluding illiterate segments of the population.

As stated by one respondent, “the exponential growth of online platforms in the wake of Covid-19 will have a powerful effect on the digital economy, enabling business and the public sector to explore new service offerings, with significant efficiency gains.” The respondent added that with a supportive policy and legislative environment, alongside infrastructure roll out and more local language options, across the three countries, “entire sectors and traditional business models, whether in the field of transport, hospitality or automotive industry will be transformed.”

Afi Edoh is a CIPESA Fellow exploring  digital transformation and the digital economy in Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Togo during the Covid-19 pandemic, to determine value and innovation opportunities as well as challenges.

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