⚖️📊The Digital Tightrope: Walking the Line Between Data for Development and Data for Control in Africa

✍️ Authored by the ACSPR Team | AI, Data & Digital Governance
📌 Shaping Africa’s Future with Evidence, Equity, and Innovation for Impact

Across Africa, data has become one of the most powerful forces shaping development. Governments are digitising public services, development partners are investing heavily in data systems, and digital platforms are transforming how people access finance, health care, education, and social protection.

But alongside this promise lies a growing tension: is data being used to empower people or to monitor, exclude, and control them?

This tension defines Africa’s digital moment. Technology is advancing rapidly, but governance frameworks are struggling to keep pace. The result is a digital tightrope where the same systems that can accelerate development can also deepen inequality and erode trust if left unchecked.

Africa’s digital transformation is accelerating at unprecedented speed.

According to the International Telecommunication Union, internet use in Africa has risen from under 10% of the population in 2010 to over 40% by 2023, largely driven by mobile connectivity. Mobile phones now underpin access to banking, health information, humanitarian assistance, and government services.

At the same time, governments and development actors increasingly rely on:

Globally, the World Bank estimates that over one billion people are now covered by some form of digital ID system, with rapid expansion across low- and middle-income countries.

When governed responsibly, data can be transformative.

Data enables governments to identify who needs support and where. Digital registries can reduce duplication, improve targeting, and ensure limited resources reach those most in need.

According to the World Health Organization, digital health systems strengthen disease surveillance, service delivery, and health system resilience when privacy and safeguards are in place.

Open data platforms and digital public services can enhance accountability by enabling citizens to track spending and service delivery provided access is equitable and oversight is strong.

Without governance, the same tools that promise inclusion can produce exclusion.

The Freedom House reports that at least 70 countries now use digital technologies for mass surveillance. In contexts with weak legal protections, such practices risk undermining privacy, civic space, and freedom of expression.

The World Bank estimates that around 850 million people globally lack official identification, many of them poor, rural, displaced, elderly, or persons with disabilities. When access to services is tied rigidly to digital systems, these populations risk being excluded.

According to UNESCO, AI systems can reinforce discrimination when trained on biased or incomplete data especially in settings with limited oversight and transparency.

Uganda illustrates both the promise and risks of data-driven development.

The country has invested heavily in biometric national identification, digital voter registers, and mobile-enabled service delivery platforms. These systems have improved administrative efficiency and service targeting in several sectors.

However, governance gaps remain visible. Instances of service denial due to biometric verification failures, alongside concerns about data sharing without explicit and informed consent, have highlighted vulnerabilities in data protection and oversight. For some citizens particularly the elderly, rural populations, and informal workers digital efficiency has come at the cost of access and trust.

Uganda’s experience underscores a broader lesson for Africa: technology can outpace governance if safeguards are not designed in from the start.

While data collection and AI use are expanding rapidly, many African countries still lack comprehensive data protection laws or effective enforcement. According to UNESCO, only about half of African countries have enacted personal data protection legislation.

The United Nations emphasizes that digital transformation must be grounded in human rights, accountability, and transparency. Development gains achieved without trust are fragile.

People are more willing to share data when they trust institutions. Weak governance erodes this trust and ultimately undermines the effectiveness of digital development programmes.

To ensure data serves development rather than control, governance must evolve alongside technology.

Clear data protection laws that define consent, purpose limitation, and accountability such as laws that explicitly restrict secondary use of personal data without consent.

Empowered data protection authorities with the resources to audit systems, investigate breaches, and enforce compliance.

Requirements for explainability and bias assessment such as human review of automated decisions in social protection or credit scoring toggle systems.

Digital systems must work for those without smartphones or connectivity for example, allowing social protection registries to be accessed and updated through trained community agents, not only mobile apps.

Continuous impact assessments and learning loops that allow policies to adjust as technologies evolve.

Institutions like ACSPR play a critical role in generating evidence, convening dialogue, and shaping African-led data governance frameworks.

Data is neither inherently empowering nor inherently oppressive. Its impact depends on the rules, institutions, and values that govern its use.

Ensuring data serves development requires innovation in governance itself including regulatory sandboxes, participatory system design, and adaptive oversight models that keep pace with technological change without stifling innovation.

Africa’s digital future will not be determined by technology alone, but by whether governance frameworks can evolve fast enough to protect rights, promote inclusion, and build trust.

The question is no longer whether Africa will be data-driven but whether it will be data-just.