Ruto: Africa must end dependency, boost investment

President William Ruto and French President Emmanuel Macron at the Africa Forward Summit on May 12, 2026/ PCS

President William Ruto has called for a reset of Africa’s partnership with France, urging a shift from aid-based relations to a model grounded in sovereign equality, mutual respect and shared economic responsibility.

Ruto said Africa’s future lies in win-win partnerships that prioritise investment and value creation rather than dependency and extraction, arguing that the continent must reposition itself as an equal player in global development.

“The times before us demand stronger cooperation, renewed multilateralism, and partnerships grounded not in hierarchy, but in sovereign equality, mutual respect, and shared responsibility,” Ruto said.

He spoke on Tuesday during the opening of the Africa Forward Summit at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) in Nairobi, which he co-chaired with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The high-level summit brought together 24 heads of state, five prime ministers, four vice-presidents, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, among other global leaders.

Ruto said Africa must move decisively away from external dependency and instead mobilise its own resources to finance development at scale, pointing to domestic savings, pension funds and central bank reserves as untapped engines of growth.

“Africa today holds more than $4 trillion in long-term domestic savings, including over $1 trillion in pension and insurance assets, and more than $500 billion in central bank reserves,” he said.

He added that Africa’s development agenda must now focus on reforming the global financial system, expanding infrastructure, accelerating green industrialisation and investing in youth skills, innovation and artificial intelligence.

The President said Kenya has already begun implementing this shift through the National Infrastructure Fund, which he said has mobilised about $1 billion in initial capital.

“Our objective is simple: to create credible mechanisms through which private capital can participate securely and profitably in Africa’s growth story,” Ruto said.

He argued that Africa’s economic potential is being constrained by structural inequalities in the global financial system, including high borrowing costs, limited access to concessional financing and biased credit rating systems.

“This imbalance is neither sustainable nor just. It is one of the principal constraints on Africa’s ability to finance infrastructure, industrialisation, climate adaptation, and economic transformation at the scale required,” he said.

Ruto said Africa’s push for the establishment of an African Credit Rating Agency is aimed at correcting distortions in how global markets assess African economies, insisting that the goal is not to replace existing institutions but to ensure fairness in risk evaluation.

He also emphasised the need for Africa to become a connected economic space under the African Continental Free Trade Area, supported by integrated transport, energy and digital infrastructure.

“Africa cannot trade effectively with itself while its economies remain disconnected from one another,” he said.

On industrialisation, Ruto said the continent must embrace green growth models that create jobs while supporting global climate goals, adding that Africa’s renewable energy potential gives it a strategic advantage.

“Green industrialisation presents our continent with an opportunity not only to contribute meaningfully to global climate solutions, but also to create jobs, expand manufacturing capacity and deepen regional value chains,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe and Africa must build a partnership based on equality and shared ambition, noting that both continents face interconnected challenges.

“Your success is our success,” Macron said.

He said France and Europe have a stake in Africa’s economic sovereignty and autonomy, pointing to billions of dollars in combined public and private investment flows as evidence of a changing relationship.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called for urgent reform of global governance structures, saying Africa remains underrepresented in institutions that shape international decision-making.

He described Africa’s exclusion from permanent representation in the UN Security Council as a “century-old injustice” and said global systems designed without Africa cannot be considered legitimate.

“Without the voice, representation, and decision-making power Africa deserves inside international financial institutions, it is not Africa that loses; it is the world that loses,” Guterres said.

Ruto echoed the call for reforms, insisting that Africa’s absence from key global decision-making platforms undermines the legitimacy of the international order.

“No governance architecture can credibly claim to be democratic while Africa, a continent of 54 countries, remains absent from the table where the world’s most consequential decisions are made,” he said.

He said Africa is not seeking privilege but fairness, adding that reforms to institutions such as the UN Security Council are necessary to restore trust in the global system.

“Africa does not seek privilege, but fairness; we don’t seek exclusion, but inclusion,” he said.

Ruto also stressed the importance of peace and security, saying instability on the continent is driven by structural issues such as poverty, unemployment, inequality and climate vulnerability.

He said Africa must strengthen its own peace and security architecture while ensuring predictable international support for conflict prevention and resolution.

The summit concluded with a renewed push for Africa-led development financing, institutional reforms and deeper cooperation between Africa and France, as leaders signalled a shift towards a more balanced global partnership framework.