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04Mar

Litigating Against Internet Shutdowns in Cameroon

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By Juliet Nanfuka |
The pushback against internet shutdowns in Cameroon has recently taken a new turn with advocacy organisations filing formal submissions before the Supreme Court of Cameroon. In their January 2018 submission, AccessNow and Internet Sans Frontières (ISF) highlight Cameroon’s commitment to international and regional human rights law and urge judges to recognise that disrupting or blocking the internet is incompatible with the right to free expression and access to information.
Authorities in Cameroon first initiated an internet shutdown in the English-speaking regions on January 17, 2017, which lasted 93 days. The shutdown was imposed in the wake of ongoing strikes, fatal violence and protest action against the continued “francophonisation” and marginalisation of English speakers who claim the central government “privileges the majority French-speaking population and eight other regions.” Cameroon’s constitution recognises the two languages as equal and calls for bilingualism. A second shutdown was effected on October 1, 2017 and some 150 days later, there was still no sign that the shutdown is about to be lifted in the affected Anglophone regions of Southwest and Northwest Cameroon.
The case in which AccessNow and ISF intervened is one of two ongoing cases challenging the January 2017 shutdown. Initiated in April 2017 by Cameroon’s Veritas Law Offices, in collaboration with the Media Legal Defence Initiative (MLDI), the cases are against the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, Cameroon Telecommunications (CamTel) – a private company which dominates the telecoms sector in the country – and the Government of Cameroon.
Litigation has been recognised as a potentially effective tool in removing restrictions on the free flow of information online in countries with repressive internet regimes. Increasingly,  various initiatives are seeking to encourage collaboration across different internet governance actors in strategic litigation for a free and open internet.
AccessNow and ISF’s filing seeks remedy for the shutdown, calling it a violation of citizens’ constitutional rights to freedom of expression and access to information and freedom from discrimination. Indeed, in the submission, the organisations point out that international and regional courts as well as human rights institutions have condemned shutdowns as contrary to the law, unnecessary, and a disproportionate means of achieving their aim.
The filing also to refers to Article 19(3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Article 9 and 27(2) of the African Charter, which state that a limitation or restriction on the right to freedom of expression will only be justifiable where it is (i) provided by law, (ii) serves a legitimate interest, and (iii) is necessary in a democratic society. These articles further state that where a state’s restriction or limitation fails to meet any one of the aforementioned criteria, it will amount to a violation of the right to freedom of expression.
Meanwhile, in November 2016, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted a Resolution in which it expressed its concern over “the emerging practice of State Parties of interrupting or limiting access to telecommunication services such as the Internet, social media and messaging services, increasingly during elections”. It urged state parties “to respect and take legislative and other measures to guarantee, respect and protect citizens’ right to freedom of information and expression through access to Internet services.”
Various countries in Africa, Europe and Asia have experienced various forms of internet disruptions in recent years, some repeatedly like DR Congo, Ethiopia, India, Turkey, and Uganda, often with little legal recourse available to citizens. In the few instances where redress has been sought through courts of law, the proceedings have been slow such as the case of Uganda which called for the 2016 social media and mobile money shutdowns to be classed as illegal in a bid to deter a repeat of similar actions. Indeed, litigation is offering a new frontline in digital rights, such as in the case of the Gambia following the February ruling by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Regional Court of Justice that media laws on sedition, false news and criminal defamation violate the right to freedom of expression. This mirrored the 2015 ruling by the East African Court of Justice (EACJ) which ruled that sections of Burundi’s Press Law of 2013 violated press freedom and democratic principles called for them to be repealed.
Nonetheless, the push for digital rights has taken on different forms and strategies, including the popular #KeepItOn campaign which is creating greater awareness and pushback against internet shutdowns. In Africa, for as long internet disruptions continue to recur, more strategic responses to them need to be developed particularly as sinister measures such as ambiguous regulations are increasingly taken to control the flow of information and freedom of expression online.
Update: Internet Access in the affected regions of Cameroon was restored in early March 2018.

16Jan

The Digital Economy in Sub-Saharan Africa: What’s Missing?

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By Kesa Pharatlhatlhe |
The global digital economy continues to grow, fueled by the increasing migration of social interactions, economic activities, and transactions online. Indeed the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector is powering various activities, such as banking, buying and selling goods and services, and access to health, education and entertainment.
In Africa, innovation, increasing affordability of hardware and internet connectivity are propelling the continent’s digital economy, but there remain challenges to growth. Internet penetration in Africa stands at 21.8% of the population, leaving the majority of the continent’s population offline.
According to  the  GSMA,  the  number  of  SIM  cards  in  use  in  Sub-Saharan  Africa  reached  731  million  at  the  end  of  2016,  and  is  expected  to  rise  to  nearly  one  billion  by  2020. By this time, the number of mobile broadband connections will reach half a billion, more than double the number at the end of 2016.
The use of mobile-based financial transaction platforms has grown exponentially, bringing the unbanked population and the informal sector in the majority of Africa’s developing countries to more structured financial transaction systems. Additionally, digital applications have encouraged the growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises through access to ICT-enabled financial services and marketing. In turn, the digital economy’s contribution to Africa’s gross domestic product (GDP) continues to grow.
Various domestic e-platforms have emerged in the region, indicating that the African digital economy landscape has positive prospects. In Nigeria, for example, Asuqu connects small businesses to creative individuals and professionals for freelance services. Then there is Jumia, whose parent company surpassed the US$ 1 billion market value in 2016. Jumia offers ecommerce services (retail, travel, food) in various African countries including Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria and Uganda, Other examples of notable online platforms in Africa include Esoko (Ghana), mFarm (Kenya) and Novus Agro (Nigeria).
However, the region’s limited internet access, low purchasing power, high levels of illiteracy and poor infrastructure, among others, have affected the pace of growth of these platforms.
 Affordability poses another challenge. A World Bank report on digital dividends shows that on average internet access costs US$206.6 per Mbit/s per month in coastal countries in Africa, compared to a whooping US$ 438.82 per Mbit/s per month in landlocked countries. Chad, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Lesotho, Mali and Niger have some of the highest access costs.
Nonetheless, some coastal countries like South Africa which has four undersea fibre optic cable systems, have ongoing campaigns against high data prices. Indeed, according to the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI), very few countries in Africa meet the “1 for 2” target for affordable internet where 1GB of mobile data should not cost more than 2% of the average citizen’s monthly income. Currently, citizens in several African countries would need to spend up to 9.3% of their average income to access broadband data.
Furthermore, the absence of relevant data for the ICT sector, such as e-ecommerce statistics, is impacting on the capacity of states to make informed policy and implementation decisions. Moreover, the continued practice to shut down or disrupt internet, has negative consequences for the digital economy. Besides, as applause rings for the capacity that African countries have for “leapfrogging” in the digital age, often under-looked is the impact that this has on relevant local content, adequate localisation of technologies, policy development and a widening gender digital divide.
As such, there is a need to review and update existing regulatory frameworks to deal with emerging issues and new technologies. The absence or poor implementation of laws such as on cybersecurity, data protection and privacy, could slow down the momentum of Africa’s digital economy growth. Although various national broadband strategies have been released by countries in a bid to coordinate broader actions on issues related to technology use, unless the aforementioned gaps are addressed, the realisation of these policies will continue to face an uphill battle.
Governments need to design policies and regulations to significantly increase broadband deployment (especially to rural areas to bridge the urban-rural divide) and investment in the tech sector through Public-Private-Partnerships – extending tax incentives for infrastructural investment to private businesses.
There is also pressing need to integrate a gender perspective in all relevant policies and strategies and to make a concerted effort to mainstream women empowerment in strategies, policies, and budgets addressing issues of gender equality, as well as focusing on accessibility, affordability, safety and digital skills in Africa.
All in all, more still needs to be done to advance the digital economy in Sub-Saharan Africa and ultimately shift from being consumers of technology goods and services to originators of disruptive tech.

05Dec

Solving Uganda’s Challenges through Data & Service Design

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By Neema Iyer|

Last week, we asked “What is Service Design?” and answered our question with “Service design is the process of taking a service and better tailoring it to the needs and wants of the end user, whether that’s a client, customer or in the case of civic service design, the citizen. It could be improving an existing service, or creating a new service totally from scratch.”

On December 5th, Pollicy and the Collaboration in International ICT Policy for Eastern and Southern Africa (CIPESA) brought back the civic technology community in Uganda, but this time, with a focus on data and design. As issues of data ownership, digital security, censorship become more pertinent in our society, so does the need to appropriately harness the benefits of big data. Through a series of interesting panel discussions, lightening talks and a hands-on design training, we took participants through a journey on how data can be used to revolutionize how citizens and governments interact for mutual benefit.

We first tackled the hard issues around the ethics of data in improving service delivery in Uganda through a panel discussion analyzing the issue from the perspective of the Ugandan Police Force, human rights defenders and the healthcare industry. Mr.Jimmy Haguma, the Acting Commissioner of Police — IT & IM, Mr.Neil Blazevic from DefendDefenders Tech Unit and Mr.Samson Jarso from Andromeda Innovations led the panel moderated by Pollicy’s own Patricia Navvuga.

 Next, we engaged the private sector on how they use big data to improve how they deliver services to Uganda citizens. Engaging lightening talks from Umeme, Viamo and Fenix: Uganda’s electricity company, a mobile technology company bringing information to the last mile and one of the biggest home solar system companies in Uganda.


In the afternoon, after a networking lunch we came together as a group to tackle challenges using the principles of service design, facilitated by Design without Borders. Using a process of iterative prototyping, our faciliators Lawrence and Rachit discussed how they conduct user research, ideate and convert their ideas in prototypes which they extensive test with their end users until completely satisfied with the user journey.

Service design creates better citizen and staff experiences while at the same time reducing inefficiencies and increasing value to society. Think of all the time, money and mental energy saved by improving upon the processes listed below.

As small groups 6–7 participants, we tackled three main challenges:
1. Public Transport in Kampala in quite inefficient
2. Obtaining a new passport is troublesome
3. There is a lack of monitoring of public complaints


From our discussions, we realized that the solutions could be readily implemented by thinking of the issues holistically. In the previous blog post, we looked at the example of acquiring a new passport here in Uganda, and quite fittingly worked on the same issue in one of the small groups.

The group, working through the National ID or a temporary National ID, presented a simple online solution for registering linked information and obtaining feedback throughout the process via e-mail, SMS and by logging into the online portal to check on the status of the submission.

For public transportation, a colour-coded and numbering system for public minibuses and buses was offered as a solution to ease unruly drivers, unknown bus routes and improve connections between routes. For public complaints monitoring, the AskYourGov system was offered as a potential solution by engaging numerous government officials through one centralized portal.

What we took away from the session was that even though we were able to come up with these ideas in 1–2 hours, the solutions seemed readily implementable. But looking at the service design processes, we need to do further research with end user and to first prototype these concepts with small groups of users to perfect the process.

Getting to work hands-on on current pressing issues in Uganda was an eye-opening experience and we hope to bring in more members of the civic technology community together with government to problem solve some of these challenges using data and design principles.

For more information on service design, check out the Service Design Toolkit: http://www.servicedesigntoolkit.org/ and content from Interaction Design Foundation: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/service-design

We’re thankful for everyone who showed up and remained engaged the entire time, and for our partner CIPESA on making this event possible!
On to the next!

04Dec

Harnessing the Data Revolution for National Development: The Case of Uganda

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By Loyce Kyogabirwe|
The United Nations (UN) has recognised data as a key factor for achieving and monitoring sustainable development. Indeed, the push for open data that contributes to government transparency and accountability and promotes citizens’ right to information and innovation through the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector continues to gain prominence globally, including in Africa.
In Uganda, the government is geared towards contributing to the emerging data revolution for sustainable development. Since 2016, the country has been party to the African Charter of Statistics and is also working to implement the UN Fundamental Principles of National Official Statistics as well as the Cape Town Action Plan. Uganda has also developed the National Development Plan and is party to regional development agendas such as Agenda 2063 and the East African Community’s Vision 2050.
In tandem with the above commitments and recognition of the need for quality data that responds to the demands of development agendas, the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) together with other development agencies hosted the country’s first High Level National Data Forum from November 14 to 17, 2017 in Kampala to reflect on how to harness the data revolution for national development.
While presenting the National Standards Indicator Framework (NSIF) at the Forum, Imelda Musana, Deputy Director of Statistical Production and Development at UBOS underscored the importance of data and statistics for actualising the NSIF as an effective tool for measuring progress and performance, informing planning and resource allocation in all government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).
Further, Bill Anderson, Data and Information Architect at Development Initiatives (DI) reiterated the need to build sustainable and inclusive data ecosystems. “To meet national development plans and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we need to build sustainable systems that are sustainably funded to tell the story of everyone in every village” he said.
During the discussion, it was recognised that due to decentralised statistical systems and fragmented data sets, official statistics did not reflect data generated by non-state data producers including the private sector, academia, civil society and the citizens. Participants therefore called for frameworks that can allow these sources of data, who are also motivated by the data revolution, to feed into the national statistics.
Coordination, collaboration and partnerships was also pointed out as essential for a functional and inclusive data ecosystem. According to Norah Madaya, Director of Statistical Coordination Services at UBOS, partnerships are inevitable in order to minimise duplication of efforts and increase efficiency and harmonisation of programmes. However, she noted existing challenges that hinder coordination and partnerships within the data ecosystem, such as lack of institutionalised statistical structures in government agencies, inadequate commitment to factors driving coordination such as harmonised ICT platforms and resistance to joint survey undertakings.
Meanwhile, usability as a driver for the national data ecosystem was also discussed, with widespread calls for data released by government to be in easily accessible digital formats. Currently, most public information/data released by government agencies is in PDF format and does not meet open data principles as prescribed in the Open Data Charter which calls for data to be released in a format that easily accessible, reusable and allows for manipulation, among others.
On the ICT front, Kenneth Bagarukayo, from the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance noted that Uganda’s readiness for open data is hindered by lack of common data standards as well as inadequate infrastructure. As such, in 2015, the government embarked on the process of developing the Open Data Policy that will help address these challenges. A draft of the policy has been developed with priority areas focusing on open data working groups, the development of an open data portal and high value data sets. According to Bagarukayo, policy consultations have been completed and the draft policy will be presented to cabinet for approval in December 2017.
Meanwhile, efforts are also underway to build Communities of Practice (CoP) on data among civil society, private sector and public-sector organisations. One such initiative is the East Africa Community of Practice for Data Revolution and SGDs which is working to enable actors meet frequently and deliberate on best practices, challenges and experiences of their engagements on data and community at the subnational level. Development Initiatives is leading efforts in Uganda towards agreeing on a general action plan for the country’s CoP and recently held a meeting with various actors including CIPESA to discuss gaps and needs that the CoP might address to increase collaboration across the East African region.
Ultimately, the National Data Forum was a ground-breaking event which will hopefully bring the data revolution to the forefront of national debates and support awareness of the evolving data demands for measuring national, regional and international development initiatives. Discussions over the three day event rallied stakeholders to come together and support more investment in data production, analysis and use, for evidence based planning.

17Sep

Bridging Cyber Security Gaps: The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization Trains SMEs in Uganda

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By Edrine Wanyama |

Uganda’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector is credited with contributing 20% to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016. While the level of adoption of technology as a key component of operations within the sector remains unclear, its effective utilisation requires entities to also embrace safety and security measures as a priority.

Identifying security controls to defend against cyber threats and data protection thus formed the basis of discussions at a cyber standards training workshop for SMEs in Uganda. Organised by the National Information Technology Authority (NITA-U) in collaboration with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO), the workshop, held in Kampala, Uganda on August 23-24,2017 targeted SME entrepreneurs, banking industry officials as well as ICT sector representatives from non-government organisations and other ICT stakeholders.

The workshop explored the Information Assurance for Small Information Assurance for Small to Medium Enterprises (IASME) which encourages SME’s to comply with international information security management standards.

Currently, possible cyber risks include; theft of data for monetary gain or competition by criminals, hacking, physical insecurity to staff and office equipment, malware attacks, insecure configuration, updating software from unreliable sources, access control and spam.

Discussions on information security are abound in Uganda as the Data Protection and Privacy Bill, 2015 makes slow progress in Parliament while laws like the Computer Misuse Act, 2011, the Electronics Signatures Act, 2011 and the Electronic Transactions Act, 2011 do not fully address the issue of data protection and privacy.

According to a 2016 report based on a global survey of cybersecurity managers and practitioners, cyber security and information security is considered a technical issue rather than a business imperative.  The findings of this study echo sentiment held by civil society orgnaisations which face similar digital security threats including increasingly sophisticated threats and rate of incidents.

In order to be better positioned to address cyber threats, civil society and SME need to be equipped with skills encompassing both online and offline responses. These include know how on policy and compliance, physical environmental protection, risk assessment, access controls, incident management, monitoring, backup, malware identification and technical intrusions.

Through a cyber essentials course and practical exercises, participants at the workshop were equipped with basic skills for enabling non-technical users to establish five information security controls including malware protection, access control, patch management, secure configuration, boundary firewalls and internet gateways.

As a follow-up to the exercise, selected participants will undergo further training for possible contracting as IASME information security assessors for SME’s.

CTO’s international events and seminars are conducted in all countries of the Commonwealth, across the continents of Africa, Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific region. Specifically, in Africa, the events have been held in Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda.

In the meantime, the Ministry of ICT & National Guidance on August 20, 2017 held an Awareness Workshop on Cyber Laws such as the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda 1995, National Information Technology Authority, Uganda Communications Act 2013, Electronic Signatures Act, Computer Misuse Act, Registration of Persons Act, Electronic Transactions Act, Electronic Transaction Regulations 2013, Electronic Signatures Regulations 2013, Open Data Policy, 2017, ICT for Disability Policy Draft and the Data Protection and Privacy Bill, 2015, to sensitize member of the public, private sector, academia, government officials and other stakeholders on information security threats and how to best combat them. The work shop put emphasis on the need to know, learn and understand existing and upcoming laws, policies and guidelines that regulate cyber security and how they can be best applied.

 
 
 

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