In Conversation with Paula Ingabire, ICT and Innovation Minister, Rwanda
Paula Ingabire is Rwanda’s Minister for ICT and Innovation. We speak to her on how the Government of Rwanda has sought to stay ahead of the cyber threat through early engagement with business, creating a policy environment that is open to innovation, and embedding security into the conduct of both the public and private sectors.
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Rwanda is currently host for three consecutive years of the Mobile World Congress Africa. What do you seek to achieve through the meetings?
The Mobile World Congress is the world’s largest forum that brings together the different actors in the mobile industry. It is focused on trends and challenges, and provides the opportunity for networks to share knowledge and understand the direction the industry is going. As policymakers it is great to be at the heart of these discussions, but also reflect on the necessary regulatory environment to encourage secure progress. As technology evolves, we need to make sure policies are not only playing catch up but are on par with development; we need to keep regulations up to speed.
It is a privilege for Rwanda to host the forum for three consecutive years – and to drive some of the solutions to the challenges we face.
You mention the need to keep regulations up to speed. How can you achieve that?
There will always be a gap between the speed of technological development and policy response. To stay as close as possible, we have to be agile enough to allow innovations to be experimented in a market such as ours; and use that as a channel through which we can develop regulations. Rwanda sets itself up as a proof-of-concept hub. We are cognisant of our natural resource limitations, and small population size, so we have to be competitive. For Rwanda, that means targeting companies looking to test unique and new concepts. Our policy towards the American drone company, Zipline, underlines this. When Zipline came to Rwanda, drone regulation was in its total nascency. We worked with Zipline to develop these; providing a license to experiment, and working out the risks together. Rwanda works with the business sector to keep up, not against them.
Of course, one of the risks of being so pro-innovation, is that it can lead to vulnerability. Specific to cyber policy, how do you create pro-innovation, but alert, cyber regulations?
Given cyber is a global and borderless threat, our first approach hinges on cooperation – within the local ecosystem, at a regional level, and internationally. Second, we look to build the right capability in our national institutions and the skills to safeguard investments in tech. Third, we look to create the necessary policies to ensure technology works as a good. For example, we recently enacted a data privacy and protection law, contextualising and benchmarking global best practices, to give Rwandans agency over their data. And fourth, enshrining a principle of privacy and security by design. As a government we uphold this across both the public and private sector. It all comes back to partnership and collaboration; we don’t seek to police everyone, simply to ensure safeguards are in place to trace and punish wrongdoers.
Central to driving our cyber policy and strategy is the National Cyber Security Authority, operationalised in 2020. They work on both government and private sector cases and provide support to our wider economy and anyone particularly vulnerable to cyber threat. As a country, we are always looking outward, having ratified the Budapest Convention, and those of the African Union. With reference to the Commonwealth, we see cyber as one of its flagship areas and want to create partnerships across the association.
To your point on the Commonwealth. What do you see as the future for Commonwealth cyber cooperation – what more can be achieved? Particularly during Rwanda’s chairmanship of the association.
First, is exploring how to harmonise cyber governance across states. Perhaps using the same yardsticks for data and privacy laws for instance. Second, is creating a cyber industry that codesigns solutions in response to threats. Policy and regulatory harmony is one thing, but actually possessing the tools and optionality to safeguard is vital; the Commonwealth can help here with its vibrant private sector and start up sector. The final two, are to explore avenues for information sharing, and to help support capability development. Collectively, these four ambitions would provide the right foundation for the collective Commonwealth to continue its cyber cooperation.
What do you see as the biggest threat on the horizon? Both for Rwanda and globally.
Cyber threats are fast evolving. Without singling one individual threat out, the major challenge is how to keep on par with the creativity of these challenges – and the format in which they come. You need to be able to think like the criminals, not only have the tools to defeat them. However, if I had to drill down on one systemic challenge, it would relate to the prevalence and dangers of disinformation and misinformation, particularly in relation to social media.
And finally, how would you summarise Rwanda as a country in the cyber domain?
Rwanda is aspirational and has established itself as a proof-of-concept hub. We’re open to partnerships with the private sector that operate across member states, that both safeguard Rwandans and allow us to benefit from the endless possibilities of the digital domain. We know that technology is our best bet for social and economic development, and through working with cyber professionals we can deliver impact securely and at scale.
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