Balancing policy and talk

Africa is a nice place: It is a place where politics is held high, politicians take their time to make promises they have no intention of keeping, and the public takes it without question.

Technology and innovation is the new topic for the talk shop; the proclamations are on what technology can achieve and how it can be done, but nothing serious happens.

For instance, many African countries recognize the role of technology in dealing with poverty and drug supply, but the talk is not backed by policy. Without appropriate laws, talk of infrastructure and e-commerce is only hollow; meeting after meeting, the talk seems to be the same.

In sub-Saharan Africa, only South Africa has a fully operational ICT Act that allows the country to have fully fledged e-commerce and a thriving technology sector.

Mobile money transfer will soon cross borders, and it remains to be seen what happens to the countries’ legal mechanisms.

In Geneva (2003) and Tunis (2005), heads of state met and discussed ways of bridging the digital divide, and in Malawi last week, the talk was on the infrastructure gap.

Yes, the digital divide is still manifest, but what about policy? Is there a match between utterances by government officials and the policy formulation?

The digital gap is there, but how is the policy gap being addressed? How do we address the inability to put in place appropriate laws?