Uganda Launches Personal Data Protection Portal

Uganda’s Ministry of ICT and National Guidance yesterday launched the Personal Data Protection Portal at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala. The occasion was organised by the Personal Data Protection Office in partnership with National Information Technology Authority (NITA Uganda) and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).

Aminah Zawedde, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, said Uganda is the first country in East Africa to enact data protection and privacy law. She said the personal data protection launch will make the portal available to the public by providing convenient avenues, such as the portal itself and SMS/USSD through which individuals may file their complaints if they are concerned their personal data protection rights have not been respected, and have not managed to resolve the matter with organisations involved.

“I am pleased to inform you that this trailblazing has continued with the country being the first in the region to automate the registration process which has resulted in 338 data controllers, data processors, and data collectors as of today,” she said.

The Minister of State for ICT, Joyce Ssebugwawo said there are compelling benefits to complying with the Act; the major one being that responsible and fair use of personal data fuels the Fourth Industrial Revolution which the ICT Ministry is championing through the development of policies and frameworks on the same with other UN agencies, such as the UN Global Pulse.

“Further, enacting and implementing the Data Protection and Privacy Act also opens up business opportunities for our nascent Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry because organisations worldwide prefer working with organisations that have strong personal data protection and privacy policies and countries with strong data protection and privacy laws,” she said.

Minister Ssebugwawo said government ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) collect a lot of personal data from citizens and other residents in Uganda for the provision of various government services. She added that it’s imperative that public bodies take compliance with the Act seriously.

“I have recently signed a circular requiring all accounting officers of government MDAs to comply with the law starting with registering their respective entities with the Personal Data Protection Office. In this way, government will walk the talk, in relation to compliance with the Data Protection and Privacy Act,” she concluded.