Human rights

There is a drive to connect one billion persons worldwide by 2020. As more Africans get online, governments have the responsibility to protect the rights and freedoms of their citizens. Yet what we see currently are increased cases of crackdown on dissenting voices. In Kenya, bloggers have been arrested; in Ethiopia, bloggers have been jailed and continue to face serious threats; in Nigeria, the government is using section 24 of the Cybercrime Act 2015 as a tool for clampdown on bloggers.

Many African countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Chad, the Republic of… Read more

I spent last week at the annual African School on Internet Governance – AfriSIG for short – which is organised by APC and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD). This post’s in two parts – the first about AfriSIG itself, the second some reflections on the issues raised.

What is AfriSIG?
 
First, let’s describe the School. Forty people from across the continent, from different backgrounds – government and business, civil society and media, technical and far from technical. All engaged with the Internet in… Read more

Dr Mawaki Chango is the Founder & Managing Director of DigiLexis Consulting. Being a recurrrent member of faculty of the AfriSIG, we thought it wise to collect his impressions about the AfriSIG 2016, in comparison with the previous edition.

APCNews: What is your general impression about the school?

Mawaki Chango: My general impression is that it has been improving and this year the diverse backgrounds of the attendees have come out complementarily in a very well-integrated manner.

APCNews: How did you… Read more