RDC-PASS enters its operational phase
The most visible project remains RDC-PASS. Launched on June 13, 2026, it is designed to provide every Congolese citizen with a personal digital identifier that can progressively be used to access public, financial and social services. As BrefCrypto previously noted in its coverage of Africa’s digital transformation, connecting citizens is no longer enough: services capable of operating on top of that connectivity must also be built.
RDC-PASS does not replace the national identity card. Rather, it is intended to function as a digital key that can be used to verify identity, access certain administrative procedures, open an account or authenticate various documents. The Presidency itself emphasizes this distinction.
Deployment remains limited, however. The official RDC-PASS website states that validation is not yet available in every province. The first cohort of 50 registration agents began training in Kinshasa in September to prepare for the pilot phase.
This is tangible progress, but it remains a long way from providing digital identity services to more than 100 million Congolese citizens.
AI and data become matters of sovereignty
The government is also working to structure the use of artificial intelligence. Augustin Kibassa Maliba now lists the National Artificial Intelligence Strategy among the main initiatives under way, alongside a sectoral digital economy policy and a framework dedicated to data governance.
The aim goes beyond using foreign tools. The DRC wants, in particular, to develop solutions suited to its own circumstances, strengthen local expertise and exercise greater control over data hosting.
This issue is directly connected to the African debate over digital sovereignty. Holding local data without the ability to store it, process it or develop models means remaining dependent on foreign infrastructure.
The initiative had already been included in the National Digital Plan 2026–2030, work on which began in October 2025. The announced plan covers infrastructure, public digital services, skills, cybersecurity and AI. Ecofin reported at the time that it could involve up to $1 billion in public investment over five years, supplemented by approximately $500 million in announced external financing.
The government is also working on the DRC Digital Gateway. The Council of Ministers approved its creation in May to build a unified, interoperable access point for public digital services.
The overall concept is therefore beginning to take shape: RDC-PASS for identification, a gateway for accessing services, and data governance to regulate what moves between them.
Cybersecurity becomes the foundation for everything else
The more services the state digitizes, the greater the potential consequences of a cyberattack.
The DRC already has a national cybersecurity strategy built around seven pillars: critical infrastructure, data protection, skills, digital trust, regulation, crisis management and international cooperation.
The government is now moving forward with the institutions intended to implement that doctrine. The ministry cites the National Cybersecurity Agency, the National Electronic Certification Authority and the Digital Gateway among the new institutions designed to strengthen trust in digital services.
The timing is significant. African cybercriminals are already using AI faster than many security forces. The Congolese National Police itself acknowledged in September the need to develop digital investigations, forensics and information-sharing capabilities to keep pace with increasingly technology-driven crime.
A World Bank and AFD mission launched on September 28 is also examining several of these same areas: government connectivity, public digital infrastructure, information-system security, civil registration and identification.
The DRC is therefore no longer short of strategies.
It must now show that they can work together. RDC-PASS must expand beyond Kinshasa, public services must genuinely become available through the Digital Gateway, data must be protected and the National Cybersecurity Agency must have operational capacity.
The DRC’s digital transformation is therefore entering a more difficult phase: after creating the plans and institutions, it must now deliver services that citizens can actually use and trust.
