Nairobi — President William Ruto has called on African nations to mobilise their own financial resources to fund critical infrastructure, warning that overreliance on foreign capital is slowing the continent’s development ambitions.
Speaking during the opening of the The Africa We Build Summit 2026 in Nairobi, the President said Africa must take control of its development agenda by leveraging domestic capital to finance projects such as roads, ports, airports, and oil refineries.
“As the saying goes, he who pays the piper calls the tune,” Ruto said, cautioning that external financing often comes with competing interests.
Ruto warned that continued dependence on foreign capital risks undermining Africa’s long-term goals.
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“Our ambitions will remain unrealised if we continue to depend on external capital whose primary interest is securing raw materials for their own industries,” he said.
The summit, co-hosted by Kenya and the African Finance Corporation, brings together leaders and investors to explore sustainable financing solutions for infrastructure across the continent.
Among those present were Yoweri Museveni, AFC President and CEO Samaila Zubairu, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, and Nigerian industrialist Aliko Dangote.
Ruto highlighted Kenya’s National Infrastructure Fund and the proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund as key tools to mobilise both domestic and international investment.
He said the government aims to raise funding for priority projects worth KSh5 trillion ($40 billion) over the next decade.
The President revealed that East African countries are in discussions to establish a joint oil refinery at Tanga Port, which would process crude from countries including Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, and Uganda.
He noted that despite Africa producing about 10 million barrels of oil daily–roughly 10% of global output–the continent still imports petroleum products worth about $90 billion annually.
President Museveni echoed the need to utilise domestic resources, pointing to pension funds as a major untapped source of capital for infrastructure development.
Ruto also emphasised the importance of regional integration, urging African countries to connect infrastructure networks to enable seamless movement of goods and resources.
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He further called for the creation of regional development platforms, drawing parallels with the early formation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which later evolved into the European Union.
The President highlighted Africa’s vast reserves of minerals critical to the global energy transition, including copper, cobalt, lithium, and rare earth elements.
“We must now move deliberately to pool these resources and position ourselves competitively in global green manufacturing,” he said.