UCC

This morning, I joined my team from the Department of ICT and Research, led by Director Eng. Christine Mugimba, to open the two-day UCC Testbed Hackathon 2026 at the Uganda Institute of Information Technology (UICT) in Nakawa. Our mandate centres on inclusivity, ensuring that nobody is left behind in Uganda's digital revolution. We should be proud as a nation of young innovators developing AI solutions for online safety. When we speak of "nobody," we must consider our country's demographic reality; most of our population is under 18. Inclusion means ensuring our children can access the digital world, learn, create, and connect with other users. I have advocated for over 15 years that children should be allowed to carry mobile phones, even at school, provided they are properly regulated and well monitored. The educational and developmental opportunities of digital connectivity far outweigh the challenges, but when those risks arise, they can be devastating. Children are no longer interacting only with trusted physical neighbours but also with an online world of over 6 billion people, which includes both incredible learning opportunities and serious risks, such as cyberbullying, harmful content, online grooming, and exploitation. Child Online Protection is not solely the government's responsibility. Parents are the primary gatekeepers. As regulators, we plan to launch major annual engagements that bring parents together with key community organisations to raise awareness of online child safety. We are also exploring regulatory mechanisms that require parents to disclose all SIM numbers used by minors. This will allow telecom operators to create dedicated databases for child-held devices, enabling targeted technological safeguards to take effect. To our hackathon participants, stay curious, collaborate, and build solutions that protect the privacy and well-being of our young digital citizens.