Zambia deepens digital sovereignty push with Huawei AI partnership

The Zambian government is banking on a new partnership with Chinese tech giant Huawei to power digital government services across the country’s 25 government ministries using AI infrastructure.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in this regard was signed between the Zambia Smart Institute (ZSI) and Huawei recently during the Zambia Mobile Congress.

Speaking about the MoU, Vice President Dr. W.K. Mutale Nalumango said Huawei will support the country is building AI and national cloud infrastructure, according to a statement from her office.

As part of the deal, the VP stated that the two parties will co-invest to build a national data center which will make it possible for critical data to be stored within the country.

The planned data center also reflects a broader shift among African governments toward digital sovereignty and local control over critical infrastructure supporting digital identity, cloud services and government data.

Nalumango expressed her belief in the power of AI in revolutionizing government service delivery and driving Zambia’s ongoing digital transformation efforts, which include the implementation of digital public infrastructure (DPI). A paper released by the Tony Blair Institute last year argued that integrating AI with DPI can make for very efficient public sector management.

Zambia hopes to begin full issuance of its national digital ID by the end of this year, as part of implementation of the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project (DZAP) funded through a $100 million World Bank loan.

The MoU, according to Zambian authorities, also includes digital skills development, with about 5,000 young Zambians expected to be trained in the next three years through the Huawei Global Academy.

According to Nalumango, the engagement with Huawei is a meaningful partnership because it is “purposeful, development-oriented, results-driven and aligned with our national vision and priorities.”

The VP also urged more private sector investment in Zambia’s digital transformation, noting that the private sector is a critical plyer in building the country’s digital infrastructure ecosystem which aims to ensure that important public services are accessible to everyone in any part of the Southern African nation.

In its own statement, the SZI quoted its National Coordinator, Percy Chinyama, as hailing Zambia’s ongoing digital transformation, saying it has helped the government save huge sums of money which would otherwise have been lost to bureaucracy and analogous operations. The official also indicted that the drive has enhanced transparency in public dealings and streamlined access to services across several sectors of the country’s economy.

China’s Ambassador to Zambia, Han Jing, and Huawei’s Southern Region Vice President for Operations, Chen Li, were both cited as hailing the partnership and restating China’s commitment to supporting Africa’s digital transformation.

The current MoU is a reinforcement of Huawei’s firm partnership with the Zambian government which has lasted over two decades already.  The company established an office in Zambia in 2004, and has over the years, supported the government in delivering digital infrastructure and connectivity, as well as smart systems and digital security projects.

The MoU is also seen as vital as it aims to boost Zambia’s strategic vision of becoming a nation that is smart, competitive and digitally connected, in line with its 2030 national development strategy.

The partnership comes as Zambia prepares for full rollout of its national digital ID system under the Digital Zambia Acceleration Project, increasing the importance of trusted cloud infrastructure and government-controlled data storage.

Article Topics

data center  |  digital public infrastructure  |  digital sovereignty  |  Huawei  |  SMART Zambia  |  Zambia