By Ashnah Kalemera |
In November 2019, The Gambia will be coming up for its third cycle review under the United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism. Former President Yahya Jammeh, before his ouster in 2017, was renowned for his utter disregard for constitutional rights, once stating publicly that he would “not compromise or sacrifice the peace, security, stability, dignity, and the well-being of…
News Update |
The National Assembly has officially passed the Films and Publications Amendment Bill, with the bill now scheduled to be sent to President Cyril Ramaphosa for assent.
The bill aims to introduce a number of changes including harsher rules to protect children from disturbing and harmful content, and to regulate the online distribution of content such as films and games.
Some…
By Abdi Latif Dahir |
Internet disruptions have become a mainstay in Africa, with five countries—namely Gabon, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Chad, and DR Congo—already blocking connectivity just three months into 2019.
Besides cutting access, a new study posits that all five nations share another crucial characteristic: authoritarianism. The report from the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) notes that the less…
By Juliet Nanfuka |
March 28, 2019 will mark a year without access to social media platforms for citizens in Chad. The current disruption, which has left internet users in Chad unable to utilise platforms such as Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter, was initiated after an initial complete internet shutdown in January 2018, which lasted 48 hours.
The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East…
Report |
Up to 22 African governments have ordered network disruptions in the last four years and since the start of 2019, six African countries – Algeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo), Chad, Gabon, Sudan and Zimbabwe – have experienced internet shutdowns.
A new report by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) titled Despots and…
By Aaron Akinocho |
In Côte d’Ivoire, fees on mobile money transactions have increased by 7.2%. Mobile money operators are thus passing the 7.2% tax imposed on their turnover by the 2019 fiscal appendix onto their end-clients.
This increase in fee occurs a month after the fiscal appendix entered into force (January 1, 2019).
Competent authorities denounced the passing of this tax onto the…
By Juliet Nanfuka |
The Collaboration on International ICT Policy in East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) has joined the #KeepItOn coalition in urging the Nigerian Authorities to ensure that access to digital communications remains open before, during and after the elections which take place on February 16, 2019.
The call implores the state to reaffirm its commitment to keep the internet during…
By Bekezela Phakathi |
Business, mobile operators and the DA welcome the news, citing the bill’s impingement on privacy and deleterious effect on the economy.
The government has shelved a controversial proposed law aimed at regulating infrastructure sharing in the telecommunications sector.
One of the contentious proposals in the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill was the establishment of a wireless open-access network (WOAN), which…
By Juliet Nanfuka |
The tax which the Uganda government introduced on use of social media last July has slashed the number of internet users in the country by five million in three months, according to figures from the industry regulator, the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC). The numbers also show that revenue from the tax is far from the windfall which government had predicted…
Zimbabwe News Update |
High Court judge Justice Owen Tagu on 21 January 2019 ruled that the Minister of State in the President’s Office Responsible for National Security does not have the authority to issue any directives in terms of the Interception of Communications Act.
This means that the directives issued by Minister Owen Ncube to shut down the Internet in Zimbabwe…