Kagame calls for intensified protection of digital information

Kagame made the remarks on Monday as he attended the meeting on Digital Transformation in Africa on the second day of the 32nd Ordinary Session of the African Union.

Kagame said: “Yesterday at the opening ceremony, I mentioned that “the future of the global economy is digital”. I should have added: “and government”.

“E-government is a powerful tool for improving both the quality and accessibility of government services,” he explained.

“Digital identity is the start of a long and valuable chain of capabilities that make citizens better able to participate productively in the regional and global economy,” Kagame said.

For the digital use in delivering government services, Kagame shared the story of Irembo, the online platform where Rwandan citizens access government services online.
“In Rwanda, we have used the Irembo platform to make many public records available online, such as land titles, birth certificates, visas, driver’s licenses, national ID, and even mountain gorilla trekking permits,” Kagame said.

“But digital systems can only function well when they are trusted,” Kagame said, advising that “Information must be protected from unauthorised access. It should be clear who owns the data that people generate and how it will be used.”

“Different digital platforms must also be able to communicate with each other seamlessly. Otherwise, we are merely rebuilding the same fragmentation in the cloud that we have been working to transcend here on the ground in the African Union,” he warned.

The meeting on Digital Transformation was, among other dignitaries, attended by Kersti Kaljulaid, the President of Estonia, whose country Kagame said “is among the most advanced in terms of e-government and digitalization.”

“Estonia is a leading country in IT and in technology generally which they have used for the development of their country, and we can have a few lessons to learn from them,” Kagame said.

Kagame also revealed the Smart Africa Alliance implementing technology-based initiatives on a regional basis has now grown to 24 member states with a total market of over 600 million people.