Activists punch holes in govt’s commitment to agenda on digital transformation

Digital rights activists are increasingly questioning government’s commitment to its Digital Transformation Roadmap (DTR) launched in 2023.

Spanning five years from the 2023/2024 financial year to the 2027/2028 financial year, the roadmap outlines key enablers aimed at achieving the goals of the Digital Uganda Vision (DUV).

Among the targets are 90 per cent household connectivity, 90 per cent geographical broadband coverage as well as 90 per cent citizen access to online e-services, all to be realized by 2040.

The roadmap also highlights comprehensive objectives, including strengthening digital infrastructure and connectivity; promoting digital services; fostering innovation and entrepreneurship; enhancing digital skills and literacy; and ensuring cybersecurity, data protection and privacy.

However, during the recent National Business and Digital Rights Policy Dialogue held at Hilton Garden Hotel Inn, Ambrose Ruyooka, head of research and Innovation at the ministry of ICT, revealed that the government has so far only laid 4,000km of the total 20,000km of national optic fibre in the last 15 years. That too has been realised with significant support from the Chinese government.

“Digital transformation as we know it, is not about extending connectivity or deploying technologies but is fundamentally about the people we’re serving, the rights and their dignity,” he said.

Furthermore, Ruyooka also cited key government efforts: two national data centers, innovation hubs at Kabale, Muni and Soroti universities as well as over 100 digitized public services such as e-tax and e-business registration.

He noted the development of an AI Governance Framework guided by international standards, including the European Union (EU) Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act, Smart Africa AI Policy, and Unesco guidelines.

BUDGET MISALIGNMENT?

Despite these initiatives, Jackson Wandera, a digital rights and social protection lawyer from the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) Uganda, questions the government’s financial commitment.

He notes that while Uganda’s Shs 72.376 trillion budget for the 2025/2026 financial year claims to prioritize science, technology, and innovation under the NDP IV, only Shs 380 billion was allocated to digital transformation, with over Shs 44 billion allocated towards the non-wage budget of National Information Technology Authority – Uganda (NITA-U), which only covers operational costs, staff, systems maintenance, and compliance not capital investments such as fibre deployment or data centres.

Meanwhile, Laurianne Comard from the EU delegation to Uganda calls on the private sector to step in to help achieve equitable and rights-respecting digital transformation.

“Knowing that in 2025 digital technologies are really everywhere, our phones are an extension of ourselves, algorithms are used to decide what we see on our social media feeds. They influence our everyday decisions and, more importantly, they impact how we experience and enjoy fundamental rights,” Comard says.

She warns that as these innovations grow, so do risks from misinformation to breaches of privacy and online abuse. With donor funding shrinking globally and national budgets overstretched, Comard emphasizes the urgency of public-private partnerships (PPPs).

“We cannot expect everything from governments. Citizens and businesses must come together to co-own the digital future.”

Comard says the €5 million EU grant supporting Uganda’s digitalization efforts in the labour and gender sectors led to the launch of the Advancing Rights-Based Business and Human Rights (ARBHR) initiative, which needs a boost from the private sector to reduce human rights violations associated with digital business practices, especially affecting women and children.

YOUTH, ENTERTAINMENT AND DIGITAL LITERACY

Nasser Biira Kiwanuka, the executive director of Recreation for Development and Peace Uganda (RDP Uganda), notes that while companies such as American Tower Corporation (ATC Uganda) and MTN-Uganda have invested in digital infrastructure such as satellite booths with free internet, usage has remained low primarily skewed towards entertainment.

“The unfortunate things in Uganda are two; one, Ugandans mostly use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for fun, for leisure. Maybe we are a little stressed as a country. I don’t blame us. For example, Hoima has five digital satellite booths with free internet. But if you analyse their usage, it is for mostly selfies, TikTok and WhatsApp. The young people are not using that free internet to engage or do business,” he says.

However, others see this not as failure, but as an opportunity. Benjamin Rukwengye of Boundless Minds, a skilling and mentorship organisation, emphasizes that today’s unstructured digital engagement by youth still holds value.

“Young people have to choose between learning a skill online or staying connected to their peers. And those decisions could be easy for you because you can afford to spend Shs 5,000 on data. They don’t always have that luxury…if we don’t address digital literacy and cost of data we’ll continue struggling. We have students coming to university and that is the first time they are acquiring a smartphone and they’re learning to use it in real-time and the first thing they go to is TikTok and whatever,” he says.

“Maybe it is not a bad thing that young people are online dancing and doing challenges there. As you’re thinking as a private sector person, your clients will tell you where to go… Maybe what we need to do is to follow them, it is going to be harder to pull them from there.”

Meanwhile, George Lugalambi, the executive director of the African Centre for Media Excellence (ACME) agrees, suggesting that even what older generations consider “nonsense” on TikTok is a form of digital literacy in action.

He says the more youth play with these digital tools by posting ‘stupid things’, the better they understand them. Instead of cracking down, the government should guide them.

“If the content is not to our taste we tend to dismiss it. I’m happy to see all these ‘stupid’ things online because the more people play with these tools you start to see the differentiation, experimentation is good, people are going to break the law, people are going to make mistakes,” he notes.

Steven Mugabe, the manager Data Protection Affairs at NITA-U’s Personal Data Protection Office (PDPO), adds that what might look like “fun” to the older generation is actually work, content creation for the youth.

He says most major corporations now engage popular influencers to market services. On his part, Eric Kasirye, the chairperson of the Wakiso District Human Rights Committee, says high costs of gadgets and technologies remain a barrier to access, especially in rural areas. Several other contributors raised concerns about surveillance.

For one, Henry Byansi from Chapter Four Uganda questioned what safeguards exist against the misuse of digitization by the state, including spyware and data overreach targeting civil society.

fkisakye@gmail.com

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