If there is one critical lesson African governments can draw from Mauritius, it is that a country’s development ambitions are often a reflection of the quality and direction of its leadership.
Listening to Mauritian government officials, it becomes clear why the island nation consistently ranks among Africa’s best performers in areas such as peace and security, economic freedom, governance, digital infrastructure, innovation and social development.
Delegates from other African countries attending the Forum on Internet Freedom in Africa (FIFAfrica) are accustomed to hearing government officials defend their records with familiar rhetoric, often blaming external factors for their countries’ shortcomings.
They were therefore almost astonished to hear Mauritian officials openly acknowledge past failures, including the government’s decision to restrict internet access during protests in November 2024, and promise that such a move would not happen again.
Rather than defend the decision, officials urged citizens to hold their government accountable.
“The very role of the constitution is to protect the people from the powers of the government. This is why, in the constitution, we have a provision for freedom of expression as a guaranteed right. It is qualified, not absolute, but it is right there,” said Mauritius ICT minister Dr Avinash Ramtohul, at the closing ceremony of FIFAfrica.
Avinash said that on November 1, 2024 the government slowed internet speeds and blocked access to social media. He promised it would not happen again, because it “kills trust and credibility in our digital systems, in the governance, and the constitution”.
As some delegates called for concrete action points, expressing concern that African digital forums risk becoming repetitive discussions of the same challenges without meaningful progress, Avinash said Mauritius had not sat back and waited in hope.
He said key players in the country’s digital ecosystem, including broadcasters, seaport and airport operators, insurance companies and banks, were required to meet broader operational requirements to guarantee business continuity.
This approach ensures that essential services remain operational even when one system fails, with backup systems in place to provide redundancy and minimise disruptions
PROTECTING CHILDREN
Avinash said digital openness must go with protection for vulnerable groups, especially children, from exploitation and illegal transactions. The government now gives parents an app to control what their children can access, limit screen time and switch off their phones remotely.
“The technology works so well that many wives started applying it to their husbands’ phones,” he said.
“We need to ensure that our digital sovereignty is respected.” Mauritius’ cybersecurity score of 96.89 per cent is the highest in Africa, about 80 per cent of its 1.32 million people are online, and electricity coverage is 100 per cent, according to 2023 Unesco data.
Its National AI Strategy of 2018 was the first by an African country and led to the Mauritius Emerging Technologies Council, which Unesco describes as the lead institution for AI awareness and development. The minister said government offers more than 200 e-services, including the Smart Traffic and Smart Police apps.
Its InfoHighway lets agencies share data and has cut the time and cost of government-to-government, government-to-business and government-to-citizen transactions. Mauritius ranked first in Africa in the 2016 UN eGovernment Index, which officials credit partly to a youth engagement programme and an ICT awareness campaign for senior citizens.
The scale of Mauritius’ progress is reflected in the nature of the challenges it now identifies. While many African countries are still grappling with basic connectivity and the digital divide, Mauritius is concerned about issues such as fragmented regulatory oversight between ICT and broadcasting bodies, as well as content providers located outside its regional boundaries. I
ts Digital Mauritius 2030 Strategic Plan seeks to advance technologies and content production in areas such as ultra-high-definition television (UHDTV), 3D television, blockchain and the Internet of Things (IoT).
These ambitions have helped position the country as an attractive destination for technology and digital infrastructure investment in Africa. The introduction of the Digital Youth Engagement Programme and ICT awareness campaigns targeting senior citizens has also contributed to the country’s digital inclusion efforts.
Mauritius ranked first in Africa in the United Nations E-Government Development Index in 2016. The digital economy is now the country’s third pillar. The University of Mauritius and Middlesex University Mauritius are expanding courses in AI, data science and digital literacy to close the skills gap.
“With new technologies like blockchain, the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence being the new world order, Mauritius cannot afford to lag behind,” says the strategy.
“To prevent another mismatch between degree holders and labour market needs, we need to review our training. This country needs software engineers, web developers, coders. They are the ones who will shape our high-income economy aspirations.”
FROM DEPENDENCE TO SOVEREIGNTY
Avinash said Africa will be heard in the digital space only when its 1.4 billion people come together, end technological dependence and achieve digital sovereignty through progressive laws. He singled out emerging technologies such as AI-generated content, whose metadata and credentials should be easy to trace.
“AI gives us tremendous opportunities for Africa to bounce back, just like mobile phones did,” he said.
WHO CONTROLS THE INTERNET?
Dr Wairagala Wakabi, executive director of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA), said FIFAfrica’s early conversations, when it started in 2014, centred on connectivity and inclusion.
The pressing questions now are who controls the internet and what happens to people’s rights once they are online.
“How do you promote socioeconomic transformation and innovation while respecting the rights of individuals?” he asked.
“It is not something we can say about very many African countries. Mauritius has been a pacesetter in data protection and digital strategies.”
He challenged governments to change the fact that Africa has 18% of the world’s population but only 1% of global AI capacity.
“How are we going to develop and deploy AI that is meaningful and responsive to our needs if we don’t have the data centres and computing capacity?” he asked. AI governance, he said, is not only a regulatory issue. It demands investment in infrastructure, digitalised justice systems, inclusion and digital rights.
“WAKE UP”
Lutchmanah Pentiah, the minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms, set aside his prepared speech to speak from the heart. He urged African governments to turn criticism into a challenge and rise to it. He pointed to China and India, which became economic powers after years on the periphery.
“There was a time we looked at China and wondered what would happen to it. It was economically weak, and yet an economic power emerged, getting stronger each year,” he said.
“There was a time we wondered what India would do with 1.5 billion people.” What Africa lacks, he said, is not people or expertise but unity.
“Each of those countries has a sense of unity, a sense of cooperation and a mentality to make the country succeed. We, the children of Africa, have that as separate nations, not as one.”