Rwanda lags dramatically in DPI news coverage as region surges ahead -New study warns of “information deficit”
3 min read
By Telesphore KABERUKA
A new regional study has sounded the alarm over Rwanda’s extremely low media coverage of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and Digital Public Goods (DPGs), placing the country second-last in Eastern Africa despite its strong reputation as a continental leader in digital transformation.
The comparative research conducted across seven Eastern African countries reveals a striking imbalance, with Rwanda and South Sudan recording the lowest media reporting on DPI and DPGs throughout 2024. In stark contrast, Tanzania and Kenya accounted for 60% of all stories published in the region, showing robust editorial attention to digital governance issues.
Dr. Peter G. Mwesige, the lead researcher, notes that this pattern points to a widening knowledge gap. “Lower volumes in South Sudan and Rwanda appear to reflect media capacity. Uneven media maturity and digital ecosystems create information gaps,” he writes in the analysis section of the report.
A country advancing digitally, but not talking about it
Ironically, the study comes at a time when Rwanda continues to position itself globally as a digital pioneer. Yet the country’s newsroom attention to critical digital systems, such as digital ID, electronic payments, interoperability frameworks, digital rights, and data protection, remains surprisingly thin.
The review of four major Rwandan outlets (Igihe.com, The New Times, KT Press, and Taarifa News) shows that DPI and DPG topics received minimal coverage compared to neighboring countries like Kenya, Ethiopia, and Tanzania, which had consistently higher reporting volumes. This poor visibility persists even as Africa experiences major growth in digital connectivity, mobile broadband subscriptions rose from 20% in 2015 to 52% in 2023, according to ITU data cited in the study.
Hard news dominates, but Rwanda produces too little of it
Across the region, the majority of DPI and DPG reports were straight news stories, with few analytical, explanatory, or investigative pieces. Rwanda followed the same pattern but with fewer outputs.
The study shows that nine in ten stories region-wide are event-driven hard news, investigative reporting is almost non-existent, and Kenya and Tanzania stand out with more enterprise reporting, while Rwanda lags far behind in volume and diversity of stories.
Government voices dominate, citizens and experts are almost absent
One of the most alarming findings is the near-absence of diverse human voices in DPI reporting across the region, a problem particularly acute in Rwanda. The study notes that government officials account for 55% of all newsmakers, ordinary citizens, civil society, and experts remain marginal, and 80% of all sources cited across the region are male, with Ethiopia recording only 5% female representation in the stories sampled.
This homogeneity of voices raises serious concerns about public scrutiny and citizen participation in shaping digital governance systems.
“Media report digital transformation but are not paying much attention to how systems are designed and how they affect rights and inclusion,” the study warns.
Why Rwanda’s low coverage matters
“Digital Public Infrastructure is at the heart of modern governance, powering national ID systems, social protection, mobile payments, health data, e-government platforms, and cross-border data flows”, notes Dr. Niyomugabo John a digital rights advocate in Kigali.
According to Dr. Niyomugabo, without sustained media attention, citizens remain uninformed about systems that shape their lives, governance reforms lack scrutiny, digital rights and privacy concerns go unexamined, accountability gaps widen, and economic and innovation opportunities are less visible.
A call for urgent action
The study offers strong recommendations directed at journalists, editors, policymakers, civil society, and training institutions, emphasizing that DPI is a strategic public-interest beat, not a technical niche.
The study’s recommendations call for the creation of dedicated technology and digital governance desks in newsrooms, stronger capacity building for explanatory and investigative reporting, more deliberate inclusion of civil society, innovators and ordinary citizens as sources, improved gender balance in sourcing, deeper partnerships with academia and civic-tech communities, and greater government transparency and openness toward the media.
The report published in Nairobi on October 16th, 2025, stresses that strengthening media coverage of DPI is essential not only for accountability, but also for empowering citizens to understand the digital systems increasingly embedded in daily life.
A regional race Rwanda cannot afford to lose
According to Dr. Karahamuheto Stanley, policy experts based in Kigali, as Kenya, Tanzania, and DRC move rapidly to build public conversations around digital governance, Rwanda’s lagging coverage sends a worrying signal. “Without a dramatic shift in editorial priorities and investment in digital governance journalism, Rwanda risks creating a population that uses digital systems without understanding them, an information deficit that could undermine trust, rights, and innovation for years to come”, he notes.
