MARTIN MAWAYA
NAIROBI—Africa risks economic exploitation, political interference and loss of cultural identity unless it asserts sovereignty over sensitive digital data increasingly used to power artificial intelligence systems, Pan-African Parliament President Chief Fortune Charumbira said on Tuesday.
Opening a conference on sensitive data sovereignty at Tangaza University in Nairobi, Chief Charumbira said rapid advances in technology had turned data into a strategic asset while exposing African countries to new vulnerabilities when that data is stored and processed outside the continent.
“Africa is rich in data, but much of it is held beyond our borders,” Charumbira said, warning that control over data determines who benefits financially from AI and who shapes political and social narratives.
He said weak oversight of cross-border data flows could lead to privacy violations, economic exploitation and political manipulation, including interference in electoral processes through access to sensitive voter information.
Charumbira described the trend as “data colonialism”, in which foreign powers and multinational corporations extract value from African data with limited benefit to local economies.
He said data sovereignty was not only a national security issue but also one of human dignity, privacy and cultural preservation.
The African Union has placed data sovereignty and artificial intelligence at the centre of its long-term development blueprint, Agenda 2063, with the Pan-African Parliament tasked with advancing digital rights through legislation, Charumbira said.
He said the parliament would soon begin work on a continent wide cybersecurity and artificial intelligence model law to guide member states on data protection, privacy and AI governance, building on the AU’s 2014 Malabo Convention on Cybersecurity and Personal Data Protection.
While African countries had made progress in aligning national laws with the convention, Charumbira said gaps remained as AI technologies advanced faster than regulation.
He also urged African universities to play a leading role in protecting sensitive health and humanitarian data through initiatives such as the Africa University Network on FAIR Open Science, which promotes local data ownership while enabling research and innovation.
The PAP president called for the creation of an African Data Space and an African Health Data Space to ensure sensitive information remains under African control, urging governments, academia, civil society and international partners to adopt a coordinated approach.
“No nation can tackle the complexities of data sovereignty alone,” he said.
