Africa Must Become A Producer Of Law, Not Just A Consumer Of It

As Africa accelerates toward artificial intelligence, digital commerce, fintech, cybersecurity, cross-border trade, and the future of work, an important question deserves serious consideration:

Who is writing the rules that will govern Africa’s future?

Every time I read publications from the International Bar Association, I encounter new legal frameworks, policy proposals, regulations, directives, and governance models emerging from Europe and other major jurisdictions. Whether the subject is artificial intelligence, data protection, digital markets, cybersecurity, competition law, intellectual property, consumer protection, environmental governance, or the future workplace, someone is actively shaping the legal architecture of tomorrow.

The uncomfortable reality is that Africa is rarely leading these conversations.

The contrast between the European Union and the African Union is particularly revealing.

The European Union has evolved into one of the world’s most influential regulatory powers. Through its institutions, legislative processes, enforcement mechanisms, and courts, the EU has developed a legal architecture that enables many rules to be applied consistently across member states. This has allowed Europe to act as a coordinated regulatory bloc capable of shaping global standards in artificial intelligence, digital governance, privacy, competition law, environmental policy, labor protections, and emerging technologies.

Europe is not merely adapting to the future. Europe is helping define it.

The African Union operates differently. While the AU has produced important treaties, protocols, strategies, declarations, and policy frameworks, most of its instruments rely upon individual member states for implementation. Their effectiveness generally depends on national governments choosing to ratify, adopt, and enforce them within their domestic legal systems. Consequently, implementation is often uneven, fragmented, and slower than the pace of global technological and economic change.

This observation should not be interpreted as a criticism of the African Union’s vision. On the contrary, the AU has articulated ambitious goals for continental integration, economic development, digital transformation, and regional cooperation. The challenge lies in converting those aspirations into harmonized legal frameworks capable of shaping Africa’s future at scale.

The issue is not a lack of ideas.
The issue is institutional authority, legal harmonization, implementation capacity, and political will.

The world is increasingly organized around large regulatory blocs. Europe is creating comprehensive frameworks for artificial intelligence. Other jurisdictions are establishing rules governing digital trade, data governance, cybersecurity, autonomous systems, intellectual property, fintech, and emerging technologies. These rules will influence global commerce and innovation for decades.

Africa cannot afford to remain primarily a consumer of regulations developed elsewhere.

African realities are different.
Our demographics are different.
Our developmental challenges are different.
Our economic structures are different.
Our opportunities are different.
While Africa should continue learning from Europe, North America, Asia, and other regions, we must also develop legal and regulatory frameworks rooted in African realities and African priorities. Simply importing regulatory models developed elsewhere without adaptation risks creating systems that do not fully address the continent’s unique circumstances.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) offers perhaps the strongest evidence that deeper integration is achievable. AfCFTA demonstrates that African nations can identify common interests, establish common rules, and build institutions capable of advancing shared objectives. It represents one of the most important legal and economic projects in modern African history.

Yet the momentum created by AfCFTA should not stop at trade.

Africa must begin serious continental discussions about artificial intelligence governance, digital commerce, data protection, intellectual property, cybersecurity, digital identity, workforce transformation, and the regulation of emerging technologies. More importantly, Africa must strengthen the mechanisms that enable continental decisions to be implemented consistently across member states.

One of the greatest barriers to Africa’s competitiveness in the twenty-first century is fragmentation. Fifty-four separate regulatory approaches may satisfy national sovereignty, but they often undermine continental competitiveness. Investors, businesses, entrepreneurs, innovators, and technology companies increasingly operate across borders. The legal frameworks governing them must evolve accordingly.

The twenty-first century will belong not only to those who create technology but also to those who create the rules governing technology.

A continent of more than 1.4 billion people should not merely inherit the future.

It should help write it.
The question before Africa is no longer whether we can participate in shaping global standards.

The question is whether we are prepared to build the institutions necessary to lead.

By Dr. Michael Buadoo, Ph.D., LL.M.
International Commercial Law Practitioner
Technology Strategist, Governance Specialist.

email: [email protected]

• • African Union Constitutive Act
• • African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement
• • European Commission publications on EU governance and legislative processes
• • European Union treaties and jurisprudence concerning the principles of supremacy and direct effect
• • International Bar Association publications on technology law, artificial intelligence, digital governance, and emerging regulatory frameworks