Introduction

The emergence of the internet and transformative technology is altering processing, data storage capacity and the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) space globally.¹ As a result, there is increased usage of the internet to deliver government services. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) defines e-government as “the use of information and communication technologies, and particularly the Internet, as a tool to achieve better government”.² The intended purpose for e-government is a better government achieved particularly through high quality services, improved government – citizen engagement and better policy outcomes. The main attention for e-government lies on shared problems, effective collaboration and citizen focus.³ As often put, technology, and especially Artificial intelligence (AI), has the potential to revolutionize Africa and leapfrog the continent to attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).⁴ E-government is central to building an effective, resilient, inclusive and accountable government and institutions as per SDG 16 and strengthening the implementation of the goals as per SDG 17.⁵

E–government is advancing globally with Asia, Europe and America leading in digital transformation due to their resilient infrastructure. Estonia, Singapore and Denmark are serving as global benchmarks especially in respect to their digital identity initiatives. Africa has shown growth in e–government and currently ranks as the second continent with the fastest e–government growth.⁶

The State of e–Government Globally and the Position of Kenya and Zambia Continentally and Globally

According to an E-Government Survey by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), e–government development improved to 0.6382 in 2024 from 0.6102 in 2022.⁷ Asia recorded the fastest growth in e–governance (7.7%) with Africa (4.8%), America and Oceania countries (4.1%) and Europe (2.3%) following in that order.⁸ The African continent’s average E-Government Development Index (EGDI) score increased to 0.4247 in 2024, compared to 0.4054 in 2022 with the most significant factor being the Telecommunications Infrastructure Index (TII), an increase attributed to digital infrastructure post COVID 19.⁹

While this seems promising, the EGDI developments in Africa remain below the global average with only South Africa and Mauritius having higher scores above 0.75 and featuring as numbers 40 and 76 globally respectively for the first time.¹⁰ Kenya ranks at position 7 in the continent and 109 globally with its salient feature being mobile money (M-Pesa).¹¹ While Zambia does not rank top ten in Africa, it is making significant strides in national digital strategies and infrastructure investments. Its telecommunication and human capital are well developed to support advanced e–government.¹²

Global North states have developed local infrastructure and policies while Africa remains dependent on foreign entities for its e–government services, cloud computing and digital infrastructure. Africa hosts only 1% of the world’s data centers, most of which are owned by foreign companies raising issues of digital control and data sovereignty.¹³ In Kenya, foreign companies especially Chinese, American and European tech companies remain the main contractors for e–government services due to infrastructure and technical incapacity with local firms playing support and subcontractor roles for the foreign companies.¹⁴ Zambia’s situation is not different as it also relies on foreign companies for its smart village and other strategies.

Role of Government and Foreign Companies

In Kenya most of the e–government initiatives are state led especially through the Ministry of ICT and Digital Economy in partnership with foreign companies. The state acts as the primary driver of e-government implementation. This is in line with the digital economy agenda which aims to ensure efficiency in government service delivery. Some of these initiatives include the e–citizen platform, Gava Mkononi and data centres such as Konza technopolis. Digital ID attempts through Huduma Namba and ultimately, the Maisha Namba, are coordinated by the ICT Authority with the support of national policy frameworks.¹⁵

Kenya cloud computing is heavily reliant on foreign companies like VMware, AWS and Dell. These foreign companies host e-government platforms like Huduma Kenya services and e-citizen. In 2022, 84% of Kenyan organizations increased their cloud computing predominantly on foreign cloud providers because of their security, scalability and reliability.¹⁶ Kenya’s Huduma centers and e-citizen platform depend on foreign companies for system design and cybersecurity.¹⁷

In Zambia, e-government is spearheaded by the state through SMART Zambia Institute that coordinates digital transformation.¹⁸ The government also has policies like the National Digital Transformation Strategy (2023-2027) to ensure innovation and collaboration. Zambia’s public sector leans on partnerships with foreign companies and foreign funded projects like DZAP to build cloud infrastructure and data centers.¹⁹ The Smart Zambia project for example uses technical assistance from foreign companies to implement the Electronic Government Enterprise Architecture (EGEA).²⁰

This foreign dominance especially in computing and infrastructures is mainly because of the infrastructure gaps existing in Kenya and Zambia. There are limited local data centers and unreliable internet and electricity in both countries forcing heavy reliance on foreign cloud providers.²¹ The existing funding models with partners such as the World bank, often mandate partnerships with foreign companies as contractors for large scale projects forcing the governments to rely on foreign companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS).²² Both Kenya and Zambia lack comprehensive regulatory frameworks and incentives targeted for local tech innovation. As a result local companies and startups lack the necessary resources and funding to compete with established foreign companies with proven solutions. ²³

Key Data Concerns

The continued dependence on foreign companies and heavy reliance on foreign service providers in e–government poses threats especially to citizen data. The hosting and management of sensitive citizen data collected by e–government platforms through foreign companies create a significant power imbalance. This is due to issues like data storage locations, control of the technical infrastructure like encryption keys raising concerns relating to data sovereignty and localization of sensitive citizen data.

Outsourcing foreign providers leads to security vulnerabilities by exposing citizen data to cyber attacks. The National Computer Incident Response Team (KE- CIRT/CC) reported over 15 million cyber-attacks in Q4 2024 in Kenya marking a 726.57% increase from the previous quarter. The attacks were targeted at government systems causing security and operational risks to platforms like e- citizen.²⁴

Most contracts with foreign companies lack clear terms on data ownership and how breaches are handled, undermining public trust. This ultimately results in a lack of trust on data handling by the government.²⁵

In Kenya, a 2025 audit revealed weak IT controls in the e-citizen platform that hosts over 22,000 government services.²⁶ The contracts with the vendor allowed them to shut the platform once the government terminated the contract showing how dependency on foreign companies exposes citizens to risks around data security and continuity.²⁷ The business registration platform breach in 2025 exposed personal data of around 2 million companies including information about directors’ identity information.²⁸ This underscores the cybersecurity enforcement gaps and risks in outsourcing data management from third parties.²⁹ This dependence complicates enforcement of data breaches and raises concerns about unauthorized foreign access and surveillance.³⁰ Another unrelated example is the controversy over how TikTok was handling Kenyan data underscoring the broader risk of foreign dominance in digital data management.³¹

Zambia has about 31.2% internet penetration and a literacy rate of 70.6%. It relies heavily on foreign telecoms like MTN Zambia and international companies to build and manage infrastructure as well as cloud services for e- government projects.³² This dependence creates a power imbalance where foreign companies control critical infrastructure, including encryption keys and data storage, limiting the government’s oversight and ability to enforce data localization or sovereignty requirements.³³

Recommendations

To avoid over reliance on foreign companies for infrastructure and computing power and for Kenya and Zambia to retain data sovereignty and localization of citizen data, they ought to focus on investment on local infrastructure.

To reduce dependency on foreign cloud providers, Kenya and Zambia need to develop their local or hybrid cloud infrastructure. This will also ensure data sovereignty by investing in local data centers to keep sensitive citizen data within national borders and use foreign cloud services for non-sensitive data services only.³⁴ This can also be done through regulatory sandboxes and local projects where both local and foreign tech companies are part of in order to build indigenous capacity.³⁵

To leverage on foreign technical expertise, compute power and funding, while also ensuring that there is government oversight and alignment with national needs and priorities, Zambia and Kenya can promote clear governance structures for public private partnerships.³⁶ A key component of this recommendation is increasing budgets allocations for digital transformation for the governments. The Kenya’s Digital Master Plan (2022–2032) aims at allocating 5% of the national budget to digital initiatives. A sustained budget for infrastructure development and maintenance will ensure continuity of projects even on discontinued external funding. Zambia current baseline is 4% government grant allocation for ICT (ZICTA Strategic Plan 2022–2024).³⁷

This investment extends to capacity building programs to enhance digital literacy and inclusion to ensure e-government adoption and secure data practices by citizens.³⁸ Training of government staff and ICT officers can shift management of infrastructure and cloud services to local entities and reduce the existing overreliance.

Conclusion

Kenya and Zambia have embraced e-government as a way of improving public service delivery and socio-economic development. The significant strides by the governments have shown how the governments can drive digital transformation. However, both countries remain highly dependent on foreign companies for critical technical infrastructure like cloud computing raising data sovereignty, power imbalance and data localization concerns. Zambia and Kenya should strengthen their local technical infrastructure and regulatory frameworks to fully leverage e-governments potential while also fostering public private partnerships.

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