Across Africa, the conversation on artificial intelligence is accelerating. Governments are developing national AI strategies and policies. Entrepreneurs are building solutions to local challenges. Universities are expanding AI research, while development partners are investing in digital transformation as a pathway to economic growth.
These conversations matter. They are shaping how Africa positions itself in one of the defining technological shifts of our time.
Yet amid the excitement around innovation, infrastructure, talent and adoption, one essential ingredient receives far less attention than it deserves: participatory governance.
Everyone is asking:
“How do we build AI?”
Fewer people are asking:
“How do we govern AI?”
Even fewer are asking:
“Who gets to govern AI?”
And almost nobody is asking:
“What evidence tells us that our governance processes are genuinely participatory and inclusive?”
This question has occupied much of my thinking while researching participatory communication in the development of Kenya's National AI Strategy. The deeper I explored the literature, the clearer one pattern became. Much of Africa's AI conversation rightly focuses on innovation, infrastructure, regulation and adoption. Comparatively less attention is given to the governance processes through which these policies are shaped and whether they genuinely enable citizens to influence decisions that will increasingly shape their lives.
This matters because AI governance is not simply about regulating technology. AI governance is about deciding whose knowledge counts, whose priorities shape policy, and whose voices influence decisions that will increasingly affect healthcare, education, agriculture, public service and economic opportunity across the continent.
Africa has made significant progress in developing AI strategies at both continental and national levels. The African Union's Continental AI Strategy and emerging national frameworks signal the continent's ambition to become an active architect, not just a consumer, in the global AI landscape. This momentum deserves recognition.
However, technological progress should not be mistaken for inclusive governance.
Across many AI policy processes, participation remains concentrated among governments, technical experts, development partners and industry actors, while the communities most affected by AI often have limited influence over the decisions that shape these systems. This is not simply a participation gap but also an evidence gap.
Too often, we evaluate AI governance by counting workshops held, policies drafted, or stakeholders invited into the room. Far less attention is paid to a more important question:
Did participation actually influence the final outcome? What was the quality of the participatory process?
While Attendance is evidence of consultation, Influence then becomes the evidence of participation.
And that distinction matters.
Evidence-informed policymaking should extend beyond datasets, technical reports and algorithmic performance metrics. It should also generate evidence about governance itself. Who participated? Whose perspectives shaped the final policy? Which communities remained excluded? What changed because people participated?
If we cannot answer these questions, participation risks becoming procedural and tokenistic rather than meaningful.
As a development communication researcher, I have come to see AI governance as a development communication challenge before it is a technological one. Every AI policy begins as a conversation before it becomes a regulation. The quality of that conversation ultimately determines whose experiences are recognized, whose concerns are prioritized and whose futures are imagined.
Innovation, therefore, is not only about developing more sophisticated algorithms. It is also about designing governance systems capable of earning public trust.
Africa also has a distinctive contribution to make to the global AI conversation. Ubuntu reminds us that progress is measured not only by technological advancement but also by how communities deliberate, share responsibility, and shape collective futures. Rather than importing governance models wholesale, Africa has an opportunity to demonstrate that trustworthy AI begins with inclusive dialogue.
As governments continue investing in AI, our ambition should extend beyond building stronger technologies.
We should also build stronger governance. Governance that is evidence-informed, participatory- grounded and rooted in the realities of the people it seeks to serve. Such governance provides the institutional foundation for realizing Agenda 2063's Aspiration 1 of "a prosperous Africa based on inclusive growth and sustainable development" while advancing the continent's ambitions under the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa (STISA-2034).
Africa's digital transformation will ultimately be measured not only by the technologies it develops, but by whether those technologies are governed in ways that are inclusive, trusted and responsive to the people they are intended to serve.
Therefore, the question before us is no longer whether Africa is ready for AI.
It is whether our AI governance is ready for Africa.
About the Author
Noelle Museshi is a policy, governance and strategic communications specialist with over eight years of experience advancing evidence-informed policymaking and advocacy across Africa. She has led multi-country policy and movement-building initiatives across African countries, working with the African Union, national governments, regional institutions and civil society to strengthen inclusive governance and citizen participation.
She is the founder of Policy in Motion, a thought leadership platform focused on evidence-informed policy, strategic communications, and participatory development across Africa. Her work sits at the intersection of evidence-informed policymaking and participatory development, driven by a simple conviction: good policy starts with people, not paperwork.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Noelle Museshi