Calls for stronger artificial intelligence (AI) governance in Africa are growing as concerns mount over the use of AI-generated content to spread misinformation and disinformation ahead of Kenya’s 2027 General Election.
Samawati Collective has established the Africa Public Interest AI Council (APiAC), bringing together six multidisciplinary experts in journalism, governance, open technology, language AI, data infrastructure and fintech to influence how AI policies are shaped across the continent.
The council will commission research, convene public discussions, issue policy advisories and provide input on philanthropic investment priorities. It will operate independently, with quarterly meetings and an initial two-year term.
Renowned Kenyan journalist John-Allan Namu, founder of Africa Uncensored, said journalists must extend their scrutiny of power to the algorithms increasingly shaping public opinion.
“My job is to ask who holds power and who answers for it,” Namu said. “Those questions now apply to algorithms that shape what voters see. Newsrooms need to be asking them before 2027, not after.”
Kenya illustrates the urgency of the debate. With approximately 40 per cent of registered voters aged 18 to 34, the country faces growing concerns about coordinated digital influence campaigns. Trust Lab researchers identified 17 major coordinated disinformation campaigns in 2025, while an Anthropic misuse report documented the removal of an account used by a single actor to mass-produce Kenyan political content.
Samawati Collective Co-Founder and Executive Director Maurice Otieno said the council was created to address the limited attention given to ordinary citizens in AI policy discussions.
“We wanted a small group of independent minds who could say, in public, what others in those rooms can’t or won’t,” Otieno said.
The initiative comes as African governments accelerate AI policy development following the African Union’s adoption of its Continental AI Strategy in July 2024. By that period, only six African countries had established standalone national AI strategies, according to the figures cited in the council’s launch material.
Beyond governance, representation remains a major concern. A 2025 study cited in the material found that only 42 of Africa’s approximately 2,000 languages were supported by major language models, with consistent coverage limited to a handful.
Council members say Africa must have a stronger voice in determining how AI systems collect data, represent local languages and influence economic and political participation.
“The test of each [AI framework] is simple: does it protect the person with the least power?” said Maha Jouini, AI governance expert and founder of Chifaa.
Kofi Yeboah of the Mozilla Foundation stressed that openness and accountability must be built into AI systems from the outset, while Vambo AI co-founder Chido Dzinotyiwei highlighted the need for language technologies that reflect how Africans communicate.
As governments advance their AI frameworks ahead of the African Union strategy’s scheduled 2027 midterm review, APiAC aims to keep public interest at the centre of the continent’s AI transition.
Its central question is whether AI will expand democratic participation, cultural expression and shared prosperity, or deepen existing inequalities in who controls technology and benefits from it.
