Africa Risks Falling Behind in AI Race, Bawumia Warns at London Summit

Former Ghanaian Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has sounded the alarm over Africa’s sluggish embrace of artificial intelligence, warning that the continent could be left behind in one of the most consequential technological shifts in modern history.

Speaking as the keynote speaker at the London School of Economics and Political Science’s annual Africa Summit, Dr. Bawumia told delegates that AI is no longer a distant frontier it is already reshaping economies, governance, and global power, and Africa is not keeping pace.

“We are in the midst of a digital revolution,” he said. “AI, data, cloud computing, and automation are reshaping productivity, security, and the very architecture of global competition.”

The Stakes: More Than Just Technology

Dr. Bawumia framed Africa’s AI challenge not as a technical problem, but as a question of sovereignty and self-determination. He drew a stark distinction between two paths the continent could take.

“If we treat AI as a set of imported tools, we will remain price-takers in the Knowledge Economy,” he warned. “But if we treat AI as a national and continental capability stack, we can become co-authors of the rules, the markets, and the benefits.”

The theme of the summit Artificial Intelligence and Uniting Borders  gave Dr. Bawumia the platform to argue that AI could be a powerful force for continental integration, but only if African nations build and share their own capabilities, rather than depending on technology developed elsewhere.

The Infrastructure Gap: A Hard Look at the Numbers

Dr. Bawumia did not shy away from the data, presenting a sobering picture of the foundational gaps standing between Africa and meaningful AI adoption.

On internet connectivity, he cited World Bank figures showing that only 43% of people across Africa use the internet and even that number tells an incomplete story. Within the continent, access varies sharply: Ghana sits at 70%, South Africa at 76%, while Rwanda trails at around 34%. More critically, he noted that being counted as an “internet user” only requires having gone online once in three months a low bar that masks the reality of how many people have affordable, reliable, and fast connectivity.

Electricity access which he called “non-negotiable” for any digital infrastructure presents a similar picture. Across Africa, only 60% of people have access to electricity. Country-level figures reveal wide disparities: Ghana leads at 89.5%, South Africa at 87.7%, Kenya at 76.2%, and Rwanda at 63.9%. But access alone is not enough. AI systems demand consistent uptime, and unreliable power transforms what could be national digital services into fragile, short-lived experiments.

“Africa’s AI agenda is also an infrastructure agenda,” Dr. Bawumia said bluntly. “No electricity, no compute, no broadband, no scaling. No trusted data systems, no safe deployment.”

Reasons for Cautious Optimism

Despite the challenges, Dr. Bawumia struck a note of measured hope, pointing to promising trends that suggest Africa does not need perfect infrastructure before it can begin benefiting from AI.

He highlighted the World Bank’s Digital Progress and Trends Report 2025, which points to the growing rise of lightweight, affordable AI tools designed to run on ordinary mobile phones already being used in agriculture, healthcare, and education across the continent.

On government readiness, the Oxford Insights Government AI Readiness Index 2024 places several African countries in a position of growing momentum: Rwanda scores 51.25, South Africa 52.91, Kenya 43.56, and Ghana 43.30 out of 100. These are not top-tier scores, but they are not starting from zero either.

Dr. Bawumia noted that the details behind those scores matter. Ghana, for example, performs relatively well in government readiness but lags in its technology sector. South Africa, meanwhile, shows stronger data and digital infrastructure foundations. “Progress is real,” he said, urging that it must now move from isolated pilots to full national systems.

Build the Foundation First

Tying his address together, Dr. Bawumia urged African policymakers to resist the temptation of chasing AI applications before laying the groundwork that makes them viable.

“History teaches us something important: technological revolutions reward those who build foundations institutions, infrastructure, skills, and rules before they chase the latest applications,” he said. “Africa’s task is to do the same boldly, but methodically.”

He closed by invoking Estonia’s e-Governance Academy, which has predicted that the coming decade will be defined by the integration of AI into both governance and everyday life a future, Dr. Bawumia made clear, that Africa must prepare for now, not later.