A digital rights expert and the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative, ‘Gbenga Sesan has called for an end to attempts by governments in Africa to impose taxes on the digital platforms, saying such attempts are dangerous to the economic and democratic development on the continent.

Sesan made this call on Thursday at the 2018 Tanzania School of Internet Governance where he was a faculty member. It would be recalled that the Tanzanian government recently imposed a license fee of $900 on bloggers in the country, while Uganda also imposed a daily tax on the use of social media and mobile money.

“The levy imposed on digital content creators in Tanzania is not an isolated violation of digital rights but the manifestation of a trend across the continent. From Uganda’s social media tax to Cameroon’s shutdowns and Nigeria’s clampdown incidents, among others, freedom of expression online is under threat for many reasons, including the fact that digital platforms have become a major channel for citizens’ expression around governments’ poor service delivery to citizens. It is important to see these issues from the pan-African perspective as we engage with the context of our varied experiences” Sesan said.  

Sesan was a member of Nigeria’s Presidential committees on Harmonization of Information Technology, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Sectors (2006) and Roadmap for the Achievement of Accelerated Universal Broadband Infrastructure and Services Provision (2013), and is a vocal advocate for digital rights and inclusion in Africa. He took participants on “Advocacy Communications,” walking participants through the process of effective advocacy.  

For more information on this release, please send a mail to Sodiq Alabi via media@paradigmhq.org.