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Kenya: Digitisation, Internet Governance and the Role of African Judiciaries

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3 years ago

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The importance of digitization and the Internet for social and human development cannot be ignored. The digitization of government and private sector services, including judicial services, is increasingly considered a key ingredient for modernization of public and private sector processes and crucial for enhancing efficiency in service delivery.

Indeed, it is now widely accepted that digitization is crucial for the realization of the goal of agile government processes that are expeditious, efficient, flexible and responsive. Our Judiciaries in the region are testimony to this. In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, courts across the region have embraced virtual courts, e-filling and electronic case management systems resulting in improved efficiencies and cost-effectiveness of the justice system.

Across various sectors of the society and economy, we have witnessed the integration of the internet, software, social media platforms, algorithms, and digital devices into our daily lives and decision making in the public and private sectors. What this means is that, in the near future, many private and public agencies look set to transition to being fully digital or partly digital in their operations.

Even as we celebrate the advances in social and human development linked to the embrace of digital technologies and the internet, we must acknowledge the reality that digital technologies and the Internet also have a ‘dark face or dark side’ as they carry with them significant risks.

It has become increasingly apparent that in politics, social media has at times been used to divide societies and polarize political systems. This has been a function of the deployment of hate speech, incitement to violence, fake news, and disinformation through social media platforms. This concern heightens in most African countries, including Kenya, during electioneering periods.

Related to this, is the abuse of digital technologies and the Internet for abuse of children, who are a vulnerable group in the society. This often takes the form of child pornography and child trafficking.

In such a context, the governance of this brave new world becomes crucial. We should approach the ‘digital world’ as a global common or public good (i.e. essentially, a common or shared commodity, asset or resource). Under such a conception of the ‘digital world’, we would see the problems associated with digitization and the Internet; such as cybercrimes, misinformation, political propaganda, incitement to violence, the propagation of hate speech, and as a tool for the exploitation of vulnerable groups as ‘pollution of our common/shared resources’.