The Uganda AI Scorecard

PS Dr. Aminah Zawedde committed to a strategy finalized and ready for implementation by June 2026, anchored in NDP IV. Nationwide consultations since 12 March 2026; the effort began as a Cabinet directive for an AI policy and broadened into a full emerging-technologies strategy (Commissioner Ambrose Ruyooka, on record).

Drafting phase effectively complete; not adopted as of 14 Sept 2026. Because Cabinet commissioned it, adoption runs through Cabinet — no public record of the draft's submission located. The June date passed without a revised public timeline. The gap to watch: does the version Cabinet approves name its owner, budget line, KPIs and reporting rhythm?

→ What moves this: Cabinet adoption + a published implementation plan moves this to Delivered, and spawns new tracked entries for each promise inside the strategy.

Conducted under UNESCO's Readiness Assessment Methodology (process launched Feb 2026) and validated at Hotel Africana, Kampala, 26 May 2026. Findings on record: a research ecosystem producing globally recognised work in health, agriculture, language technology and environmental monitoring; no AI-specific legal framework; the 2019 data protection law silent on algorithmic transparency and automated decision-making; broadband affordability a major gap.

The full report has not been located in public circulation. Publishing it would let the evidence base behind the strategy be examined rather than taken on faith.

→ What moves this: Public release of the full readiness report closes the transparency caveat.

Industry regulatory trackers report a first AI law expected between late 2025 and 2026. The gap the law would fill is confirmed on record: the UNESCO readiness findings state Uganda lacks an AI-specific legal framework and that the 2019 data protection law does not cover automated decision-making.

No bill text, gazette notice, or ministry announcement of a draft law located as of the check date; the timeline rests on secondary sources. Daily Monitor has reported a Kenyan firm contracted for AI regulation work (article paywalled).

→ What moves this: A published draft bill or gazette notice moves this to In Progress.

Uganda intends to build the capacity to develop, govern and benefit from AI rather than remain dependent on foreign systems, with investment across six named foundations.

The right foundations, correctly named. No costed plan, sequencing, or budget line is public yet. This is the commitment this scorecard will watch hardest.

→ What moves this: A costed, sequenced plan or a budget line for any of the six foundations moves this to In Progress.

An official, published target: the ministry hosts the full BPO & IT Services Job Creation Strategy and maintains a sector database. Ministry-stated baseline: 243 registered companies, 50 active firms, over 10,000 direct jobs and roughly 15,000 indirect.

Upgraded from "announced" in v1.0 after primary sources were verified. The baseline is roughly 7% of the 2030 target with four years to run; no regular public progress reporting located, and no published analysis of what AI automation does to the entry-level tasks the target depends on.

→ What moves this: The first official progress report against the 150,000 target turns this from a tracked promise into a measurable trajectory.

Named as the foundation the AI strategy builds on, with active programs across its five pillars.

The base layer. If the AI strategy's ambitions outrun this roadmap's delivery, the sequencing problem lands here first.

→ What moves this: Continued delivery evidence at the next NDP IV reporting cycle sustains this status.