Decolonizing Digital Sovereignty: An Operational Framework and Policy Analysis of AI Governance in Sub-Saharan Africa

As artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly shapes value-laden societal outcomes worldwide, the imperative for robust governance has become critical. Yet the global AI governance literature remains disproportionately Western-centric, frequently overlooking the structural and infrastructural realities of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper bridges the gap between theoretical critique and practical implementation by proposing a Five-Pillar AI Governance Framework tailored to SSA. The framework is substantiated through a qualitative documentary analysis of contemporary African policy developments, employing a most-different systems comparative design across the divergent regulatory pathways of Rwanda, Nigeria, and the African Union. Policy evidence is extracted and coded against three governance indicators - infrastructural sovereignty, stakeholder participation, and institutional enforcement - and mapped onto the proposed structural pillars to produce an operational governance matrix. The resulting architectural blueprint offers African policymakers a practical roadmap for harnessing AI safely while safeguarding local digital sovereignty.