Introduction

The African region has long been a consumer of both technologies and the governance structures that accompany them. With Artificial Intelligence (AI), African nations, CSOs, and researchers have taken concerted efforts to advocate for African AI and Afro-centric governance systems in a bid to shape AI adoption on the continent for decades to come. Part of these continental efforts include the endorsement of the African Union Continental AI Strategy, which advocates for an Afro-centric and development-focused attitude towards AI deployment, while embracing equity and responsible AI practices.¹ Additionally, the African Union’s Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (Malabo Convention), adopted in 2014 and entered into force in 2023, provides a regional framework for data protection and cybersecurity, laying the groundwork for secure digital and AI ecosystems. This convention lays a foundation for the East African region’s ability to promote harmonised data protection and governance standards across the region.

The East African Community (EAC) has been actively promoting the adoption and governance of AI. For instance, EAC Partner States’ customs authorities have been urged to leverage AI to streamline customs procedures, enhancing efficiency and trade facilitation.² Regional stakeholders have called for harmonised technology policies to accelerate digital transformation, emphasising the need for unified regulatory frameworks to support AI integration.³ The region has recognised the potential for AI to catalyse economic growth, social development, and regional integration. However, the AI governance landscape in this region is diverse, shaped by varying levels of infrastructure, policy development, skills and institutional capacity. This blog explores the state of AI governance in the East African region, with a focus on the evolution of East Africa’s AI governance actions, including national AI governance structures and foundational laws.

So Far: The Evolution of AI Governance Actions in East Africa

In response to the recognition of the transformative potential of AI, the East African region is actively developing various governance instruments to ensure its ethical, responsible, and beneficial adoption. Although a single, overarching regional AI governance framework remains unavailable, significant progress is being made at both the continental, regional and national levels, with strong implications for regional harmonisation of adoption and governance approaches.

The African Union Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy, adopted in mid-2024, is a key AI governance instrument at the continental level, providing a strategic blueprint for all African nations, including the East African region. The Strategy champions an Africa-centric, development-oriented, and inclusive approach to AI, emphasising ethical principles, responsible innovation, and the need for appropriate governance systems and regulations at regional and national levels.⁴ This strategy directly influences and encourages the development of AI policies within the EAC. Also adopted in 2024, the Nairobi Statement on Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technologies in Eastern Africa emerged from the UNESCO-Eastern Africa Sub-Regional Forum on AI, which adopted the Continental AI Strategy and called for a more coordinated mechanism within East Africa for its implementation.⁵ The Nairobi Statement recognised the efforts of East African countries that had already adopted national and sectoral AI governance instruments and institutional frameworks, recognising their important role in positioning East African countries at the global stage in the 4th Industrial Revolution.⁶ The UNESCO-Eastern Africa Sub-Regional Forum on AI and the resulting Nairobi Statement set the stage for the launch of a series of UNESCO-led AI-readiness assessments that would further empower policymaking efforts in each country.

Kenya’s Readiness Assessment journey positioned the country as a frontrunner in shaping the region’s AI governance conversation.⁷ The assessment process brought together government agencies, academia, industry, and civil society to evaluate the nation’s readiness across five key dimensions, including legal and regulatory frameworks, social and cultural dimensions, scientific and educational dimensions, economic dimensions, and technological and infrastructural dimensions.⁸ Report findings indicated that Kenya had the relevant foundational laws to support AI governance, including the Data Protection Act, 2019 and the Constitution of Kenya, while recognising the need to enact AI-specific legislation to improve AI governance.⁹ Further, the report highlighted socio-cultural gaps such as the underrepresentation of women and minorities in the AI field, and research gaps necessitating investments into AI research and capacity building.¹⁰ While the assessment revealed an increasing presence of private sector and startup activity in the country, it noted a need for a more enabling environment through infrastructural development of data centres and cloud computing capabilities.¹¹

More recently, Tanzania’s readiness assessment report was launched at the 2025 Africa Internet Governance Forum, painting a picture of a country intentionally shaping its AI adoption and governance, with the relevant foundational laws and data governance efforts. On the legal and regulatory dimension, Tanzania has a solid foundation in its 2022 Personal Data Protection Act and the accompanying regulator, as well as sector-specific AI frameworks for health and education.¹² The Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence in the Health Sector and National Digital Education Guidelines for AI in Education set a notable example of sector-specific AI governance for the region. The country is also actively developing its comprehensive AI strategy to shape the adoption and governance of AI in the next few years.¹³ Socially and culturally, Tanzania’s approach is anchored in inclusion, with a strong focus on Kiswahili natural language processing through projects like Database Kiswahili and Mozilla Common Voice.¹⁴ Still, a digital divide remains, with rural areas underserved in skills and infrastructure, and women significantly less connected.¹⁵ Notably, 60% of the population lack basic digital skills, further highlighting a stark digital divide in the country, which is further exacerbated by affordability issues and uneven STEM participation.¹⁶ On the scientific, educational, and economic dimensions, the country’s universities, innovation hubs, and startups are already applying AI to local priorities in health, agriculture, and education, supported by vibrant communities like the Tanzania AI Community.¹⁷ However, research investment remains low; hence, many innovation hubs operate without stable funding.¹⁸ The report exposes further gaps in an enabling environment for these innovators to exist, due to low access to venture capital, heavy reliance on imported solutions, low rural connectivity, and unreliable power and compute capabilities.¹⁹

National AI Governance Instruments within the East African Region

Individual EAC member states are leading the way in establishing national AI governance instruments, often serving as models or contributing to the eventual regional harmonisation. Kenya’s National AI Strategy 2025-2030,²⁰ launched in March of 2025, is a groundbreaking national AI governance document that explicitly outlines a government-led vision for ethical, inclusive, and innovation-driven AI adoption. The strategy focuses on dedicated pillars on AI Digital Infrastructure, Data, AI Research and Innovation, Governance, Talent Development, Accelerating Investments, and Ethics, Equity, and Inclusion.²¹ It acknowledges the need for future legal frameworks to regulate the oversight and classification of risks associated with AI systems.

Rwanda’s National Artificial Intelligence Policy, launched in 2023, placed the nation as an early mover that introduced a national AI policy with a vision to become a global centre for AI research and innovation. Its objectives directly touch upon AI governance by aiming to be a Responsible AI Champion, and Africa’s AI Lab, by fostering an open, secure, and trusted data ecosystem to enable AI development and deployment.²² On the other hand, Ethiopia’s National AI Policy outlines a vision to integrate AI across core sectors to boost development and competitiveness.²³ The country’s institutional framework is also of notable importance, with the Ethiopian Artificial Intelligence Institute (EAII) serving as the national hub for AI policy, research, and regulation.²⁴ Backed by a significant budget increase in 2025, the institute’s work supports Ethiopia’s National AI priorities of ethical oversight, data governance, human capital development, and sectoral innovation.

Other countries in the region are taking steady steps in recognising the importance of creating awareness, skills, an enabling environment and relevant governance frameworks for Artificial Intelligence. For instance, Uganda’s Ministry of ICT has indicated ongoing efforts to draft a contextualised AI policy that caters to the demands and leverages on the opportunities in Uganda, rather than copying “best-practices” as has often been the case with African countries.²⁵

Data Protection Laws as Foundational AI Governance Frameworks

Six out of the eight Partner States of the EAC have enacted data protection laws to operationalise the human right to privacy. These include Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Somalia and Burundi. South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) currently lack comprehensive data protection frameworks.

This uneven adoption of data protection laws across the EAC significantly shapes AI governance in the region, as these laws provide essential safeguards for data privacy, consent, and security, which are critical at every stage of the AI lifecycle. Data protection priorities are crucial considerations from the data collection stage, model training, deployment and post-deployment stages of the AI lifecycle.²⁶ For example, tight requirements for data minimisation and purpose limitation help ensure ethical AI development by restricting personal data use to what is necessary, mitigating risks of bias or unethical profiling of deployed AI systems.²⁷ Uganda’s Data Protection and Privacy Act also governs the usage and protection of personal data, providing a foundation for AI systems that rely on personal data. Another country setting the stage for comprehensive AI governance is Somalia, whose National Communications Law, 2017 and the Data Protection Act 2024, lay the groundwork for data protection and governance.

However, broader data governance laws are still foundational in the region, with the main focus being data protection and privacy laws, as well as cybercrime laws. To foster responsible AI governance, East African laws must evolve to address AI-specific issues, such as algorithmic accountability, transparency in decision-making, and secure data-sharing mechanisms. This would ensure that AI systems are developed and deployed ethically throughout their lifecycle, supporting the region’s digital transformation while protecting fundamental rights.

The Birds Eye View on the AI Governance Framework in Eastern Africa

The East African region is progressing in laying down its AI governance structures, albeit in an uneven manner. Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia have continued to position themselves as policy pacesetters, each translating the African Union’s Continental AI Strategy into national blueprints that blend global norms with local priorities. These countries have coupled foundational data protection laws with published or draft AI-specific strategies or readiness assessments, signalling both political will and a recognition that AI requires a governance layer beyond existing information and communication technology (ICT) policy. Elsewhere, Uganda, Somalia, and Burundi are still operating primarily on foundational laws, most often data protection and cybercrime statutes, without comprehensive AI frameworks, leaving a policy gap that could widen if adoption accelerates without concurrent regulation.

It is equally important to note what is missing from the AI governance framework in the region, such as the lack of a unified regional AI governance framework under the East African Community. This is despite clear calls for harmonisation in the Nairobi Statement and AU Strategy, and the necessity of such a framework to empower national policymaking. As such, it is unsurprising that most Partner States have yet to embed AI-specific principles, including transparency, accountability, bias mitigation, and fairness, into enforceable legal instruments. Further, implementation capacity remains a barrier even in more advanced jurisdictions, where strong laws exist but regulatory bodies lack the resources or technical expertise to supervise AI systems effectively.²⁸ Without structured cross-border cooperation, these gaps risk creating a fragmented governance environment in which AI-enabled services are subject to varying oversight levels depending on where they are deployed.

As such, future iterations of AI governance in the East African region will require more than isolated national strategies. Effective governance will heavily rely on regional mechanisms to standardise key elements of AI oversight, enable joint capacity-building for regulators, and create frameworks that are rooted in East African ethical, social and cultural contexts. This collaboration would make cross-border AI applications safer and fairer, while positioning the region as a key benchmark for African and global AI governance norms.

Conclusion

Across the East African region, ongoing efforts to create an enabling environment for AI adoption are faced with common challenges, including skills gaps and limited technical expertise, inadequate infrastructure, and fragmented regulatory frameworks. Generally, the AI governance landscape in East Africa shows a mix of efforts, with Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia leading with dedicated AI strategies, Tanzania displaying a benchmark for sectoral governance, and the DRC, Uganda and Somalia building foundational frameworks. The landscape remains such that an East African framework for addressing ethical concerns, such as AI bias, accountability gaps, and data privacy concerns, is incomplete. This is even after the region’s commitment to align with the Continental AI strategy’s call for regional alignment and adoption of Afro-centric and development-focused AI. Consequently, this reality presents an opportunity for regional collaboration through the East African Community to harmonise AI policies and share best practices that are relevant to East African experiences.

Image was generated with ChatGPT.