The groundbreaking ceremony for East Africa’s largest energy project went ahead as scheduled on September 30, 2026, despite a court case and a cast of protesters in the host community.
On a seaside patch of the 7,000-acre piece of land earmarked for the project in Lamu, a coastal town on the shores of the Indian Ocean in the north of Kenya, President Wiliam Ruto superintended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Dangote East Africa Petroleum Refinery, a $16Billion (KSh2.2Trillion) mega project set to transform the energy and industrial landscape of Kenya and the region.
“This is more than a refinery”, Ruto said to a cheering crowd. “It is an integrated industrial complex featuring a 1,000MW power plant, a plastic factory and the manufacturing of fertilisers and chemicals”.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni joined President William Ruto as the heads of state at the ceremony. Former Nigerian President, Olusegun Obasanjo, was also in attendance.
Aliko Dangote, the African billionaire whose company is constructing the project, told the audience of over 1,000 people that Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals will complete the 700,000Barrels Per Stream Day (BPSD) single train refinery in 40 months.
To which Ruto replied with a joke: “Kenyans are very good with keeping data. I warn you. They always take me to task every time I give them a time frame.”
Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals had selected Honeywell Technologies to provide technology and engineering for the project.
Overshadowing the September 30, 2026 ceremony was a legal challenge, brought forward by a group of 133 local farmers and residents from the Chandavai and Magogoni areas of Lamu County. The petitioners argue that the 7,000-acre tract is ancestral land their families have occupied, cultivated, and used for livestock rearing for generations. Residents allege that government officials and developers arrived unexpectedly with bulldozers to clear the land on September 10, 2026, destroying homes, crops, trees, mosques, shrines, and family graves without prior notice.
While the host community residents acknowledge they lack formal registered title deeds, they maintain that under the Kenya Land Act’s compulsory acquisition provisions, their long-term occupancy qualifies them as “interested persons” entitled to recognition, resettlement, and fair compensation.
Public interest lawyers and lobby groups have additionally threatened or joined legal actions, asserting that the government violated constitutional mandates by failing to conduct transparent public participation before.
Mr. Ruto, who is seeking re-election in August 2027, said that “land matters will be handled fairly and environmental issues will be dealt with judiciously”. Speaking in both English and Swahili, he also declared that he was prepared to take on those who simply want to disrupt the project.
The Africa Energy Chamber, has also weighed in with concerns.
“Legitimate questions around land rights, compensation and environmental compliance must be addressed fairly and in accordance with Kenyan law”, wrote NJ Ayu, the AEC’’s Executive Chairman, “but they should be resolved without allowing a transformative infrastructure project to become trapped in prolonged litigation.
“Africa cannot continue exporting its energy security and then acting surprised when conflicts thousands of kilometres away determine what our people pay for fuel. The communities of Lamu must have their rights respected, and legitimate questions around land and compensation should be resolved quickly and fairly. But those issues cannot become an excuse to indefinitely delay one of the most important downstream investments East Africa has seen in decades”.
