The following are the outputs of the captioning taken during an IGF intervention. Although it is largely accurate, in some cases it may be incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
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>> MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this open forum on Shaping Africa's Digital Future and look at that future through data governance. We have a fantastic panel. So I'm going to start -- we have a little bit of time, so I will quickly introduce this panel. Firstly, we have honourable Salima Monorma Bah. She is from the Republic of Sierra Leone from the Minister of Communications of Technology and Innovation.
And we have Betano (?) -- The Commissioner of Infrastructure and Energy, African Union Commission, Intergovernmental Organisation, Africa Group 2. Currently he is the Ambassador of Kenya to the European Union. Based in Brussels is on my right is the incoming Executive Director of Research ICT Africa, which I think is Africa's foremost think tank. And I think in general, producer of data evidence and analysis in policy and digital development in Africa.
And then on my left here I have Wakabi. Wakabi is from CIPESA, the Executive Director, Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa. And also I think a veteran of Internet Governance.
And I think one of the organisations that has done such an immense job in building the capacity of Civil Society in Africa in trying to be active or being active voices in policy.
And on the far left we have Kojo -- I think this is your second IGF?
>> KOJO BOAKYE: This is my 19th.
>> MODERATOR: Were you in the youth caucus at the first one?
>> KOJO BOAKYE: No, I am a 7s baby.
>> MODERATOR: Welcome. It's really good to have all of you here. And my name is Arya (?). I'm the organizer of the European Governance and associated with the Association for Communications.
I think just really thanks to the organizers for this session. Because data governance, I think, is indeed really one of those important cross-cutting topics that we need to engage at the IGF. And it's particularly important at the moment for Africa, looking at the way Africa is and its journey on digital transformation. There's a rollout of digital IDs, national data exchanges, AI strategies and crossborder trade initiatives. For example the implementation of the African continental free trade area.
And all of these efforts hold promise for Africa's development and for increased digital equality in Africa. But behind every digital system in innovation lies a very important critical foundation. In fact, I think two critical foundations. Firstly data governance, effective, accountable and inclusive development oriented data governance. But then also digital inequality, which is the context that still tend to undermine the implementation of so many innovative and forward-looking digital transformation strategies on the continent.
But data governance is not just about regulation. I think it's about systems and coordination and institutions to make sure data is managed in ways that are secure, transparent and trusted. And I think -- you know just adding this -- this is a particularly relevant to the IGF, trusted across stakeholder groups and by different types of actors, trusted by private sector operators, by privacy advocates, by trade justice advocates and by governments. And by the technical community as well.
And it's only really when you have this trust that digital transformation can be implemented but work and achieve benefits for people. For governments there really is a challenge at this point in terms of how quickly to move from policy to practice, how to build systems that are technically sound, and I think also systems that are future-proof. But at the same time, systems that recognize the realities of the context that those governments are trying to work in are still so characterised, so deeply characterised by digital exclusion at multiple levels, at the level of constitutional capacity, people's access, the capacity to have the devices and the skills that are needed to really participate and benefit from these systems.
So this session is trying to bring together these quite diverse different stakeholders, to talk about this. They are all involved in this in one way or another. And so they are here to share their insights on what the challenges are, what the possible solutions are, what we have learned from the data governance implementation and framework development that has taken place so far.
And to start us, I'm going to ask minister Salima Bah from Sierra Leone to just give us a sense interpretation of what Sierra Leone has done and the experience that you have gained, you know, over the last few years. What do you think? What are the critical -- the factors, the variables that really makes that difference between what effectively implemented policy and strategy or incoherent or non-harmonised policy and strategy to policy and strategy that actually makes that leap from theory, from ideas, from strategy to practice, to implementation.
>> SALIMA MONORMA BAH: Thank you. Thank you so much for organising this and definitely to the organizers at GIZ and everybody else who has participated am I think, as she said, this is such a really critical conversation to have. Specifically when we looking at Africa's digital transformation journey and agenda and how data is essential and part of that, I think. I was having a conversation with somebody. I was like they went from something that was an after thought I think for a lot of African governments to now I think just being a central piece to what we are trying to do.
And I think -- Well, one, specifically we understand when we talk about our digital transformation again dark how issues such as data sovereignty and how our data is managed and what that looks light, I think now we -- the understanding of how critical that system I think it's even more established.
But also I think the other realities -- the economic value when it comes to data as Well, I think. That is also part of it that everybody is getting to the understanding of, there's a huge economic value. And we want tone sure that -- how that is exploited or how that is managed or leveraged or tapped into. We want to be a part of those conversations as well.
But definitely a key point in terms of how do you move from policy and strategy to practice? I think for Sierra Leone what has really worked -- because this is has been a journey we have been on for maybe 20, 25 years. But really we have only started seeing effective outputs from that I think for the past six, seven years and it's been as a result of strategic prioritization. So for example for the president we get to see that political bias and example. For example, when the president came, in he appointed a chief for innovation and established an agency to focus on technology and how do we implement in included making technology one of his big five game changers in the national development plan. He has established and dedicated a minister.
So that's been really key. Because most of the time -- in terms of how government works it really political buy-this is really half of the battle already won. And even two weeks ago we had an annual conference, and the president had a fireside chat where he really got to speak to the public about -- his vision and his plans for it. So I think that's been key.
I think other parts as Well, which I kind of touched on earlier was setting up dedicated institutions I think is really important. Because we can have policies, we can have strategies, but if you don't have the institutional frameworks to actually implement and carry them through, I think it's a significant problem. So really this has been key for us, setting up these dedicated institutions that have really been at the center of implementing a large part of this agenda, I think has been key.
We even now at this point also very soon looking to establish another agency, the government regulatory agency that would really enforce issues around data, data governance.
>> MODERATOR: Perhaps just tell us. When you say the relevant institutions what are the institutions that you have established that you feel are playing such a vital role?
>> SALIMA MONORMA BAH: Absolutely. So for example the director of science and technology and innovation was established in 2019. So after that the government came into force. This has been a key institution for us in terms of really implementing and developing the international government solutions and moving forward that way. And we established the National Security Center and Universal Access Developmental Fund. That's been critical in delivering access to unserved areas and now established a dedicated ministry. So really we see that as one step being taken forward.
But then also maybe the final piece we believe of this, I think -- I like to call my twin pieces is around, one, education. Think especially with data governance and within our en, sometimes there's this -- sometimes this feeling of wanting to hold data, people wanting to micro manage data. People not wanting to share data. So really for us what has been key is education. Education in terms of making public institutions and workers understand the value when we really get to use data and to the value add of data. But also getting them on issues of capacity building and making sure people actually have the capacity and to implement the areas of focus.
But maybe the other part of it is also enforcement mechanisms. Because sometimes I think we understand in our region that people don't want to do it for two reasons, either there's a fair of this new way of doing thing, this new way I'm not to share my data with another institution. I don't want to. So we get to educate them and drive that.
But also sometimes just unwilling tons do it, because of people fear transparency and accountability, and they don't want to do that either. So we looking at both sides and make sure we have enforcement mechanisms that would address either scenario. I call it my carrot and stick. Where we want those who follow the guidelines and when I would look at ways of finishing those who refuse for one way or another. So it's definitely been a carrot and stick method for us.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you so much for that.
I think what really strikes me from that traditional economic system you describe that many of those institutions are not dealing with data governance in a narrow way.
In fact, you have described an institutional context which covers institutions that deal with access of equality to education which I think is very creative. It's that kind of whole of government approach which we hear a lot about and very rarely see. And Betano, I want to ask you, you have been in your role in regulation and the ministry and now in your role as ambassador.
How do you feel Africa can leverage the partnerships that operate in a space like the IGF and in the data space to accelerate our digital agenda? You know how can we take advantage of best practices but still stay in the driver's seat as -- you know as in a sense, not just copying coming from elsewhere but actually designing and designing from scratch and innovating approaches that can meet our needs.
So how -- but I also want you to comment are we doing it? Are we exceeding?
>> Thank you so much. I want to thank you for the question. Thank you for making this arrangement. I have been looking backwards to see what we would have done best to benefit Africa in this space. And I sort of regret in the sense that had we -- at the beginning, started to think system-wide, thinking of everything, that everything you do has an impact and this is how we go forward.
For example we talked about infrastructure. We started implementing cables and other stuff. And of course in Kenya we did some sensitisation, training people, digital training, digital ways to be able to take advantage of the infrastructure.
What we had forgotten to do is that we should have immediately began to teach people what data can do with respect to poverty reduction. If we went to the villages, and this infrastructure can help you to improve your productivity in the sense that you know the amount of fertilizer you need when you need to grow the weather part in and stuff. So we did everything in a serial format instead of system-wide. We are doing this because of this.
So everybody was doing it because everybody was doing it. Now we looking back and say, we should have done more to use systems theory and think much more broadly to change things. Nonetheless we need -- as the minister said, to look attar is sovereignty, Africa lacks data centers. You look at sovereignty, we looking at the mechanisms in place.
The regulatory things, in some cases people confuse regulation with struggling innovation. You don't do. That we need to clear regulations that would enable innovation to take place. And that's how we can benefit from this. And then we need to collaborate more with like-minded moving forward.
With these few things that I have mentioned here, plus digital literacy, we can begin to maximize the use of this technology and also manage our data in a better way that can move us forward.
>> MODERATOR: Thanks a lot for that, Betano. And I want to turn to you, Wakabi. And digital rights for CIPESA and recognizing privacy and how that protection is an enabler for protecting rights. For you what does meaningful rights based data governance look like in practice at this point in time? And I think particularly now that we no longer are just talking about GDP or privacy circumstance data governance is now so much more than the protection of person information. And the data ecosystem involves so many different types of data.
So how do you feel we can effectively apply this rights based approach to this evolving landscape of data governance?
>> DR. WAKABI WAIRAGALA: Thanks, Anya. So for the protection, data has become privilege to our rights and the protect of society. So if the right is not promoted then the appetite for citizens to partake of public services, for them to participate in public affairs, ICT would all be on the minute. So how do we have rights protected.
One is whatever data policy frameworks we make, and those are under data protection, we should ensure that they uphold the rights privacy and related rights like access to information and protection from surveillance.
On the other hand we should ensure that our laws are aligned with the high level instruments such as the data on human and people's rights, which govern a lot of rights around the continent. As well as with conditional guarantees in individual countries.
But it also mentions the issue of about balancing protection with innovation. As much as one protects rights, we should also enable access to data that enables us to make value out of it. For instance public access to data in the public interest.
A lot of the times it dines the data protection which we keep talking about. But when you look -- if you were to do a sort of assessment, many of those in reality are not upheld.
As a Civil Society, it becomes our law to do assessments of countries to see whether they are actually living up to those principals or they are not.
The other element I would like to speak to is that of the incident avatars and mechanisms and the minister from Sierra Leone actually spoke about them. The need to establish independent well established and well funded institutions like data protection policies. To issue guidance and to issue penalties. That again is enrich. We will have the rights respected and final one is clearly technology and instituting measures to ensure that better rights of minorities and marginalized groups are clearly upheld, which brings in the concept of data justice, namely that data should not be collected, should not be used in any way that undermines the rights of the marginalized groups.
As I sum up, what are some of the elements that need to be done to ensure that citizens are hard. One of them meaningful spaces for participation. A lot of the times there are no meaningful spaces. For instance, to be able to express their views, and for those to be taken into programs. But there is also -- the area of privacy and data rates are fairly new, right. Not many people know their data rights or how to express them. So creating awareness of their rights. Creating awareness of how to protect yourself in the digital environment and submitting areas also that can go somewhere industry-related.
>> MODERATOR: Yes, I was actually going to ask you if you think people know what data rights are? And if the concept of data justice is one that is well understood.
And I think it is challenging, particularly because data rights also campaigns different types of data. But absolutely, that's exactly the role that Civil Society should be doing.
Kojo, let me move to you. As Meta has to operate in this space, how do you -- from your experience of a company that operates in multiple jurisdictions, a very powerful company. A company that is very data intensive. Data is so central to your business model. How do you find the policy and regulatory environment in Africa from the perspective of complexity, suitability, harmonisation and compliance, and accountability and transparency on your part?
>> KOJO BOAKYE: Great question. A big question as well. The first thing I would say is a huge thanks to the government of Norway for putting this conference on and having spent so much time. A number of them, most recently Japan and others I know what a big undertaking it is but also a huge thanks to my fellow panelists I told Dr. Wairagala, about my time with the alliance from the internet and still the global digital partnership, et cetera and some of the changes he made to the policy environment in Kenya were ground breaking in terse of accelerated access to the mobile, et cetera, and Wakabi and many others. So a huge respect for the panelists.
In terms of the policy and regulatory environment in Africa itself. And most of my work across Africa, Middle East and turkey, I look at Sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa as well. But I will focus on Sub-Saharan. I see a lot of development. We have 30 national laws that speak to this. Obviously in south Africa and Nigeria's Data Protection Act and Kenya's Data Protect Act as well. Which highlight how thoughtful governments are being about this particular issue.
Part ever your question, Arya spoke to the level of harmonisation. And it has an impact on cars and I will say smaller companies, if you want to say it that way, seek not only in their national jurisdictions but also access African markets abroad. And I'm not going to go on about the Africa continental free trade agreement and what it holds.
What I'm seeing less of is harm saying between those two policies. Yes, there are similarities. But I think if you think about companies that are seeking -- both big and small seeking to take advantage of a 1 billion person opportunity on the continent itself. 1.3 billion if you want to look at North Africa and Sub-Saharan and growing and getting younger. Some is needed. I think the framework offers a huge opportunity not only for governments to continue creating legislation that speaks to their national priorities, whatever they may be but also creates opportunities to harmonise frameworks and lets ors -- whether they be purely private sector or public sector or organisations across have some certainty and protectable about how data can flow across the continent and travel.
I just want to make a couple quick comments on great interventions from colleagues my learned colleague from Sierra Leone whom I'm just met and impressed me with her policy stance, spoke about the creation of institutions.
You asked about how companies operate. I will say I would love to know more about the kind of institutions being made. Because in our experience, sometimes -- you know when Kojo was asked to have a call with country X. Speaking to this head of an organisation that's just been created. I'm speaking to the current DG of the regulator who has been there for some time and the organisation has been there for sometime.
I'm speaking to the digital organisation as well or who understandably believe they have jurisdiction over in growing and important area. And sometimes, not in Sierra Leone, but sometimes you gate complexity that creates challenges between the institutions themselves and the individual player as well for companies both large and small as well. So I do think people should think carefully about that.
I thought the doctor's intervention with the lessons learned from the past in regard to what we told people about the value of data is really indestructive, not only for how we go on thinking about data governance now and in the near future but also how we think about AI. Walk around this conference. AI is the big topical subject. And I think we do need to think about, right, what are we telling users the beneficiaries, the recipients of this great promise that AI has. What are we telling them about AI now? Are we telling them there's a huge opportunity that they can feed into. That governments can feed into and commercial governments can feed into to help improve their lives. We could have done that in the past. Or are we suggesting that big companies like Meta and like Google and like Microsoft or governments with nefarious purposes and have nefarious intent or purposes are going to use AI to -- you know whatever the affairs purposes may be.
And I do think the communication about the promise of AI, the benefits as well as the risks need to be really, really thoughtfully approached and delivered to people who will benefit most from it. I hope I answered your question a bit.
>> MODERATOR: You absolutely did.
And thank you so much for that, Kojo. And I just want to emphasize, Kojo talked about the African Union data policy framework. For those of you not from Africa I would really urge you to have a look at. It in fact there are people around this table who helped develop it and GIC played a role. But it's an strums that has been adopted by African states and it's a framework that effectively balances the protection of data with the use of data, the making of availability and the sharing of data for economic and social and public interest benefits.
So -- and then there's another African instrument. I'm going to let you speak, don't worry am I know you. And there's something that the African commission on human and people's rights, a resolution that was passed last year. This is an African body. It developed soft norms but they are very powerful norms and they passed a resolution on access to data. And the role that data plays and access to data in realising the right to access to information. And again a very powerful forward-looking human rights oriented instrument, but again looks at the use, the protection, the sharing of data. Kojo you wanted --
>> KOJO BOAKYE: Thank you so much for the additional time. The one other thing I would say about the framework, is I believe as a historian of African history -- and I spoke about my respect for the panelist, but my heros include qualm my and Kumar and many depolarization heros at the time. And I think the framework gives us an opportunity to create a harmonised policy framework that is Bespoke for Africa and I say Bespoke for Africa because I know data is a global thing. But it fits not only a national need but also a continental need and helps us assume that position.
I quickly did a search on Mario's drug report which I read in full, but I asked Meta AI. You can use ChatGPT --
>> MODERATOR: Or DeepSeek.
>> KOJO BOAKYE: I asked what is the findings of the Mario Draghi Report. The key thing is Europe has fallen behind the other regions. Lack of development, no big -- many things have happened because of this regulation.
>> MODERATOR: Let me push back. Are you not going to talk about European regulation?
>> KOJO BOAKYE: No, I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about the lessons learned from that and the lessons we can take as a country -- for those interested in the Gurney Report, it's not me saying that lessons can be learned and I would encourage our continent and others to learn from that.
>> MODERATOR: I'm teasing, because he's from Meta --
>> KOJO BOAKYE: I'm from Ghana.
>> MODERATOR: That's true. But with the policy framework within the context of data flows that are still very attractive. You are absolutely correct. So about the power of the data policy framework, Priya, in Research ICT experience have you been working with governments in implements the principals in the African Union Data Policy Framework. But can you also work with data and evidence based policy as a tool? What do you see as the most common critical gaps in implementation? What are governments really struggling with? And is there a multistakeholder dimension to this that he we might not have touched on enough?
So what do you think are the issues that we really need to focus on if we want to use the power of data in a right oriented or developmental oriented way.
>> Thank you so much, chair, and thank you for the opportunity to be here today and speak on this panel.
I love coming in at this point. Because I think that people have raised different gaps and challenges already. And this correlates very much with what we are seeing in our work. And in our work we work at a national level. We work at the institutional level. We work at the regional level, and more recently, we have worked as a knowledge partner to the G20 as well.
And in our work at the moment, data governance has evolved from a stand alone concept to how it's integrated into concepts such as DPi, the extend to which it can be used as a tool for AI transparency and accountability.
And more recently we have become a little bit obsessed with the data value chain and participation and agency and inclusion for all of society, including my crow and small enterprises as well in having access to some of those data benefits.
So people have spoken about the different challenges in terms of their fragmented legislation, not negligence I will speaking to each other. And this is a global phenomenon as well. It's a very dynamic field and definitions of data are changing by the day, in fact. And we cannot resolve on a single definition.
And even when we speak about the data value chain, it's so dynamic, it's moving very, very fast. And in fact, it's in some ways unfair to ask the policy to keep on the pace of innovation.
People have spoken about the enforcement mechanisms and weaknesses in the enforcement mechanisms and the regulatory models that we have. And that coherence and alignment in what we speak about now is the data ecosystem. We realise everyone has a role to play. The different government departments we heard how science and tech and vacation are coming in. We know about how statistics are being called upon to play a role.
So that coherence in the data ecosystem as well.
And someone raised political role as being one of the -- and we have all had experiences with that, investment and money and being resourced is the one challenge in order to make these kinds of institutional shifts and capacitates the different institutions but owner have you to have a role and commitment to see it through.
And of course we remain with these very structural inequalities so when we speak from the self and continental intro speculative, we looking at inclusion, and that means we need digital abilities and skills that enable us to speak about the skills we are speaking about.
The work we have been doing is the evolution of the data governance realm. So what do we want it see from a regulation perspective and institutional perspective? And I don't want to box us into an African perspective because as Arya mentioned, we have a worldclass data policy framework, and it has been consulted as a novel approach to data governance across the word. And because if introduces novel principals on how we can bring more equity and agency for everyone in the benefits of the data economy.
But one of the thing we are looking for as we make these shifts? For those of us who work with our partners, when we speak with our situational awareness, we want to understand the political economy and the kind of infrastructure setup, and where do we stand before we work on data governance.
We also look at the rights frameworks. We want to know is there rights to privacy and access to information. And we also want to know if there is something than can interpret as the rights to communique active technology or the right to benefit from the data value chain.
We tried try to improve on the adequacy of the processed frameworks or access to information frameworks. And more recently we have been placing emphasis on the access to information frameworks. How do we manipulate the proactive disclosures and manage the disclosures in this if we start to open up the data and have a available to those that need to use it?
We also want to try and improve the adequacy of the enforcement mechanisms by going to have a look at the mandate of the institutions and the regulators. We looking at the consumer protection regulators, the information regulators. If we looking at the ministries, if we looking -- and even the institutional mandates to carry outstanding building. Other mandates fish to really give legitimacy to what they will put into the ecosystem.
So there's also no point in developing these if it doesn't have the legitimacy coming from the institutional mandates. So there's often often a need to change the mandates and to expand those.
But what I wanted to place focus on that we haven't spoken about is to bring the Civil Society in. Which is in that in all the work we are doing, are we really putting emphasis on the user? And whether we are speaking about DPR, whether we are speaking about AI and governments that informed us. Are we putting the emphasis on -- have we considered data demands and inequality and is their baseline of where they are coming from? And can we be looking at these different mechanisms? The laws and the policies and the institutional frameworks?
And can we use that as a means of coalescing to build the user's capacity to participate and draw value? And that, I think, is the most fascinating part of our work at the moment is how do we build sustainable mechanisms for that inclusion.
>> MODERATOR: And it's something we are not doing.
>> We are not doing. It and if I even think about conversations we are having here, I would challenge us to say are we putting enough emphasis on that.
>> MODERATOR: Thanks. I know the panel won't respond. We only have 10 minute left. So before you respond, are there any questions online, Joshua? Are there any questions in the room. If you want to ask a question go and stand by a microphone. Nothing online. Perfect. Please, have you to be super, super brief. Your name and your question. And make it a question, please. It's active of you can just speak.
>> QUESTION: So mine is a comment related to the (?) and submission. So currently the African Union Commission, GIZ division to be precise is working with African countries to implement the African Union data policy framework. And for which GIZ is supporting. And the aim is harmonisation. But there are 55 countries on the continent some we should accept that this is not going to be a very easy task.
So the harmonisation issue is on the agenda. But this is just a call for act for Kojo and other big tech organisations. What we have realised so far in implementing the African Union data policy framework -- and I know it's difficult, but big tech in the country processes usually -- they tend to shy away. And they are more interested in platforms like this. And I think where we need to do a bit of work is in the country process -- the support with the policy development. And the development of the digital ecosystem. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: I'm sorry to cut you short. But we have 7 minutes will he. Thanks to the panel.
>> MODERATOR: Introduce yourself, please.
>> QUESTION: 620, please take a look at it. Resolution 620 African commission on human rights. My name is Guy Berger. I'm working with African Commission to develop guidelines on access to data following resolution 620.
So if you are interested in the alliance and the work and shaping these guidelines on access to data, public sector data and private sector data, please visit data alliance.africa. Thank you.
>> MODERATOR: Thanks for, that Guy. Please be quick.
>> QUESTION: He hello, everyone. I'm (?) from Ghana. My question is many Africans do have data protection laws and largely after the DPR. Yet enforcement capacity has been notoriously weak. What critical strategies or mechanisms can be put in place to make enforcement work. Thank you so much.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you so much. The last question.
>> QUESTION: Hi, I'm Amy from Nigeria. My question is how can we learn from the successes and mistakes of other nations who are currently trying to improve data governance so we can actually make some successful data governance changes within African itself.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you very much. That is exactly the opening you were look for earlier. So panel we have got 1 minute each left. I think I would like to bring in -- Kojo mentioned earlier AI. I think I would like you to respond. Think about the questions. Think about what you don't want to see as we continue on this journey and what you do want to see. I will start with Betano and move -- we will finish with the minister.
>> Thank you. I will be very clear. What I want to see is banning the African commission -- before we dealt with this we opened the partnership which dealt with many issues of management of resources and transparency.
Once we begin to show what data can do, then we can put data regulations in place. Now we have put data regulations -- before we even know what data will do to the people. And at the African level it's not doing anything. Nobody is implementing. It can't be implemented. It's just something we keep on waving around that we have.
>> MODERATOR: Thanks, Betano. Priya.
>> I will respond quickly to some of the comments as well. First, is we do have to continue to support for developing data governance frameworks at the national level. And including in the detail of how institutions evolve.
The second is -- I love the Civil Society Coalition with African Alliance Coalition. Because we must develop these standards from that perspective, with those needs in mind. And this compliments what could be done at the government levels and at the regional levels.
And the third is to respond to the regulatory oversight mechanisms. That one, we can strengthen our complaint and practically our complain mechanisms that we have with the regulators and secondly we have a lot of traction with regulatory cooperation. So looking at how competition regulators and transmission regulators so you can closing the loops on different gaps on where some of the challenges might be. So that's my closing notes and a quick response.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you, Priya. Wakabi.
>> DR. WAKABI WAIRAGALA: Thank you we are working on harmonised law with data governance. And we think working on this level the virgin communities can be one way in which countries can domesticate the African Union policy framework. The a lot of problems at different lefts, different laws, different -- but harm saying we think can happen, especially in areas where there is already an economic community. So it can deepen. Videos of good and the incident graduation.
Finally, we need investments in order to make data make sense and make money. But same with AI. Data capacity is something we have talked about -- less than 1% of the global data center capacity we are not going to be able to do much. Yet 18% of the population. We are not going to be able to do much unless we are investing in this capacity and the individuals use out of this data maybe through I fin through data vacation funds is upon governments and private actors to take that step.
>> MODERATOR: Thanks a lot, Wakabi. 1 minute, Kojo.
>> KOJO BOAKYE: Closing and quickly responding to comments, Kojo, who we met here. Call to action. I hope we are already doing. That I think Meta has one of the largest policy teams, certainly in Africa. Each of the members I'm proud to say were born of the region and come from various backgrounds.
Government practice and Civil Society. And I think a lot of calls to action, when we receive them, we are responding too. We want to be involved for Meta's benefit and the benefit of continent and the benefit of users, we want to be involved in contributing to policy and regulatory develop L. So we are happy to work on that particular process as well. Especially if it lends itself to harm innovation.
On the Sage's comment on reinforcement. I think enforcement should take into consideration the aims in what you are trying to do to improve data governance on behalf of users as it always should. I think in my personal experience that should be primary reason for enforcement and we should be thinking less about revenue generation which is the case that some governments are thinking about at all. But some governments are thinking about it as in part a revenue generation. And I think we need to be careful of that.
And the last thing I will say is on learning from others, the lady asked the question learning from others. Let's learn from others. I've encouraged people to read the Mario derogatory report which talk about the regulation and overregulation, the consequences of that. I would encourage us to be more confident in ourselves about the policy.
Arya has spoken about the world has a policy framework am I encourage us to do that. And talk to each other is my last point. I know DPA's regulators across the region talk to each other. But talk more broadly as well. Talk to India, to Brazil, to other places as well to think about how they are doing it and seek to talk to us as part of a call to action because I think tech wants to be involved. Sorry to take so long, Area.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you. Salima.
>> SALIMA MONORMA BAH: Thank you so much. I think as a closing response, the question asks from the participant from Ghana, that is a critical conversation, and I will show you at the very highest level within government, across governments, that's one thing we are discussing to see how do we really better enforce. I like what you mentioned about -- Priya what each country needs to look at in terms of data protection. Sometimes the harmonisation doesn't really get into effect.
I do think the conversation about enforcement could be a separate panel on its own. And I think it's a separate panel with private sector. Part of that. I know you mentioned some government as an issue of the revenue, but really maybe some -- but I will show you a large part of it is sometimes an issue of -- it doesn't seem as if I can bring them to the table any other way. Especially when you are dealing with countries of a smaller economic size and when they go up against big tech. Sometimes there's that gap in getting what I want. So maybe I'm going to go the most draconian I can.
So I think this is where big tech really needs to come to the table to see how you do it.
That's why you see actually a lot of movement going towards the GDPR because I think it's the best example of continent outside of the America to get an effective hold of how this is managed.
So maybe I think that's a separate panel on its own because can you dive into causations and how and different models and how we get there. But I do think for the continent sake as a closing I think for the continent sake for the private sector sake and for the citizen's say, I think this is a really critical conversation that needs to happen as soon as possible.
>> MODERATOR: Thank you so much. We are out of time. But I don't think I need to make closing remarking either some thanks for this fantastic panel. Thank to the team that organised it. And I think to everyone, I really -- you know I work in data governance in many parts of the world. I think Africa is the place to follow. Join us invest in our journey, partner in our journey. And thank you so much for coming to this session.
(Applause)
And a quick thank to the online participants. I know you didn't speak but we saw you. So you were visible. You were in the room with us. So thank you.