African governments and the influence of corruption on the proliferation of cybercrime in Africa: wherein lies the rule of law?

ABSTRACT

Recent international and domestic reports have consistently tagged Africa as a haven for cybercriminals and cybercrime perpetration. Most of these reports have attributed the absence of a holistic cybercrime legal framework and lack of implementation as the basis for their conclusion. Arguably, in the absence of a regional cybercrime legal framework to curtail cybercrime's menace in the African sub-region, African state governments have enacted legislation and policies in that regard. This paper argues that the level of corruption in government, private, and public institutions significantly influences cybercrime proliferation in Africa. This is accentuated by greed and the urge to attain greater heights in the African society by whatever means. There is evidence that despite the availability of cybersecurity measures corrupt insiders in private and public institutions relay critical information to cybercriminals to facilitate their criminal intentions. These corrupt insiders aid cybercriminals to bypass security infrastructures put in place by governments and institutions. The implication is that cybercriminals can now effortlessly victimize cybercitizens by using social networks to profile them. Suggestions for, increase surveillance of the cyber space, the better welfare package and increment of workers' emoluments, reducing political leaders' flamboyant lifestyle, amongst others are made as possible solutions.

KEYWORDS:

• Cybercrime law
• African governments
• corruption

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).