Foreign Influence on Civic Space in Uganda by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) examines whether Uganda is drawing inspiration from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government’s digital authoritarianism to curtail digital rights in Uganda.
Uganda is ranked as “Partly Free” by Freedom House’s annual Freedom on the Net report, with the biggest contributing factor being the repressive laws governing the digital civic space and surveillance, particularly those that enable internet censorship, network disruptions, and deployment of surveillance technologies such as spyware and video surveillance.
PRC Influence on Uganda Digital Policies
Uganda has mirrored some practices promoted by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) government, which various global indices consider a leading player in digital authoritarianism. While it is not patently clear whether the PRC has directly influenced legislation in Uganda, the report notes that “it has arguably inspired some of the legal frameworks and practices that fuel digital authoritarianism in the east African country.”
PRC has continually buttressed its influence over Uganda’s social-economic development through the seemingly no-strings-attached loan schemes that have often been acknowledged and praised by President Museveni. This non-interference policy in the internal affairs of other countries allows their governments greater leeway to suppress dissent and democratic processes without facing criticism or repercussions from China.
By contrast, the Uganda government or senior public officials have during 2023 and 2024 attracted sanctions by the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and the World Bank over governance and human rights concerns. As such, the PRC’s no-governance-strings-attached model is criticised for emboldening authoritarian tendencies in the countries it partners with.
However, do not assume that African governments are incapable of developing home-grown systems of governance that then rely on models from other continents.
PRC Digital Technology in Uganda
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) government has been a notable source of support in developing Uganda’s digital communication and other infrastructure. It’s model of governance and state surveillance may be influencing or inspiring retrogressive laws and undermining digital rights in Uganda.
For example, the Wall Street Journal reported that Chinese telecom company Huawei aided security agencies to spy on President Museveni’s political opponents. The report showed how Huawei technicians helped Ugandan intelligence services to infiltrate encrypted communications of opposition leader Robert Ssentamu Kyagulanyi, (Bobi Wine), and were, as a result, able to monitor his movements and scuttle his mobilisation rallies for the 2021 election.
Huawei is also a leading exporter of video surveillance technology to Uganda, including facial recognition capabilities that Ugandan police have deployed in manners that often compromise privacy, in the name of law enforcement, public security, and urban management.
PRC has invested more than USD 110 million in Uganda’s National Backbone Data Transmission Project and also supported the National Fibre-Optic Project. There are suggestions that the national backbone and fibre-optic projects are part of a digital infrastructure that has enhanced the Uganda government’s surveillance capabilities that violate the right to privacy and freedom of expression.
4 Recommendations for Uganda
There is ample evidence indicating that African autocracies are exploiting the adoption of PRC technology and model of internet controls to roll back democratic gains through surveillance and censorship.
Uganda should resist all foreign influence and models that promote digital authoritarianism and undermine democracy. The country’s laws must respect internationally recognised human rights standards and promote the use of a free, open, and safe internet.
Here are a few of the legal reforms necessary to advance digital rights in Uganda and the role that legislators, civil society organisations, human rights defenders, and journalists should play.
- Parliament should strengthen legal and regulatory frameworks by amending or repealing regressive and oppressive frameworks to ensure responsible and ethical use of surveillance technology.
- Parliament should enact laws that specifically protect journalists, whistle-blowers, human rights defenders, and activists from wanton threats, arrests, and prosecutions over legitimate online communications and activism that advances social accountability, respect for human rights, and good governance.
- Civil society should conduct evidence-based research into the actions of foreign actors and how they adversely impact local laws, policies, and democratic governance.
- Various stakeholders, including academia, the media, and lawyers, should engage in public interest litigation to challenge provisions in legislation that limit the exercise of digital rights.
A lightly edited version of Foreign Influence on Civic Space in Uganda: Implications for Digital Rights by CIPESA. This version uses the term People’s Republic of China (PRC) to denote governmental influence and actions instead of the term China, which can conflate a government with a geographic region.
