East African Community’s Unified Cyber and Data Protection Agenda

East Africa is undergoing a profound digital transformation, reshaping government operations, business trade, and citizen services. Digitalization drives integration through payments, e-government, and smart cities, yet it amplifies risks like cyberattacks, breaches, and cross-border crime. EAC Partner States recognize that threats ignore borders, prompting collective action to build a secure, resilient digital region.

Recent meetings in Kigali and workshops held in Nairobi have advanced this agenda. Discussions in Kigali validated a Regional Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) roadmap, adopting a hybrid model that merges national structures with a central hub. This approach ensures flexibility, cost-effectiveness, legal compliance, coordination during incidents, data localization respect, resilience via distributed infrastructure, and scalable technical capabilities.

The Regional CERT facilitates threat intelligence sharing, cyber drills, and support for national CERTs without replacing them. Complementing this, Nairobi workshops highlighted uneven data protection laws across states, creating exploitable gaps that erode digital trade trust. Participants advanced a harmonized EAC Data Protection Framework, uniform rules for cross-border data transfers, and Regional Standard Contractual Clauses for lawful sharing.

Strong enforcement requires independent authorities, effective cooperation channels, and robust mechanisms for addressing privacy violations. Grounded in global standards, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and local contexts, these steps promote safe data flows, establish authorities, and integrate protection into projects like Kenya’s Konza Technopolis. Human capacity remains central, as technology alone falls short without skilled professionals. Partner States advocate expanded training, regional certifications, routine drills, and a shared expert pool for complex cases.

Uganda actively contributes by implementing its 2019 Data Protection Act, bolstering its National CERT, and embedding these principles in broadband and e-government strategies. These initiatives transcend regulation, fueling economic growth, innovation, and trust with secure citizen data, confident cross-border business, safe government sharing, and joint threat mitigation. Next steps include finalizing the CERT framework, crafting an EAC Model Law, building capacities equitably, and forging public-private partnerships.

By prioritizing collaboration, investment, and will, East Africa builds a safe, inclusive digital ecosystem. Uganda stands with partners, turning cybersecurity and data governance into enablers of stability, trust, and transformation, modelling global digital cooperation where technology delivers security, dignity, and opportunity.