President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni joined regional leaders at the Africa We Build Summit 2026 in Nairobi, Kenya, where he called for a coordinated and strategic approach to infrastructure development across the continent. Speaking at the opening of the two-day summit hosted by the Africa Finance Corporation in collaboration with the Kenyan government, President Museveni thanked President William Ruto and the AFC for organizing the event. He emphasized that infrastructure must be viewed as part of an integrated development framework, linking transport, energy, digital systems, and productive sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and small and medium enterprises. President Museveni stressed that moving priority infrastructure projects from conception to implementation requires regional cooperation and coordinated planning. He noted that Africa’s economic growth has lagged behind its natural resource wealth, population size, and land advantage due to persistent structural bottlenecks. He warned that instability driven by sectarian politics and weak state institutions undermines infrastructure progress and economic transformation, calling for ideological clarity, national unity, and strong security institutions as foundations for sustainable development. The Ugandan leader urged a shift from exporting raw materials to local value addition, citing cotton, coffee, minerals, and petroleum as sectors where processing could boost national revenues and create jobs. He also emphasized that borrowed funds should be invested in productive sectors like electricity generation, railways, fuel pipelines, and industrial manufacturing rather than recurrent expenditure. “Infrastructure must strengthen what I call the bone marrow of the economy, the core systems that support industrialisation and long term growth,” he said. President Museveni reaffirmed Uganda’s commitment to regional integration through infrastructure connectivity, industrial production, local vaccine manufacturing, steel development, and petroleum refining capacity. He noted these investments would contribute to shared prosperity across East Africa and the wider continent. He also highlighted the importance of expanding intra-African trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area framework, describing market integration as essential for attracting investment and supporting large-scale production. President Museveni concluded by urging African governments, development finance institutions, and private sector partners to prioritize coordinated infrastructure financing that supports industrialisation and economic independence across the continent. President Ruto delivered the keynote address, setting the tone for discussions under the theme “Infrastructure as the Engine of Industrialisation.” He noted that manufacturing in Africa has stagnated at around 10% of GDP and stressed the urgency of advancing value addition and industrialisation to improve the continent’s position in global trade. Ruto emphasized the need to connect infrastructure, raw materials, and intermediate goods to enable natural economic flows and called for leadership at the highest level to drive strategic positioning. He also thanked President Museveni for Uganda’s investment in the regional pipeline project, stating that the same spirit of cooperation continues to guide Kenya’s engagement with its partners. Nigerian businessman Aliko Dangote applauded President Museveni’s decision to ban the export of unprocessed minerals, affirming his commitment to support the development of a similar refinery in East Africa with the backing of the two presidents.
President Museveni Calls for Strategic Infrastructure Investment to Drive Africa’s Industrial Transformation at Africa We Build Summit 2026
