Dangote refinery: Here we go
National
By
Jacob Ochiro
| Sep 30, 2026
The little-known Magogoni area in Lamu County is the nerve centre at least for today, playing host to the historic groundbreaking of the Dangote East Africa Petroleum refinery and petrochemicals special economic zone.
President William Ruto and Nigerian businessman and the President & CEO of Dangote Industries, Aliko Dangote, will headline the ceremony to officially set the ball rolling for the 2.2 trillion investment.
The ceremony will happen at the Lamu port.
To witness this momentous occasion, a huge number of Envoys and dignitaries are expected from Uganda, Ethiopia, Togo, Burundi, Rwanda and South Sudan, alongside leaders from other African states.
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At Least five Heads of State and Government are expected at the event.
''I have invited eight colleagues from the region, and five have already confirmed attendance. I think we are going to have a wonderful ceremony in Kenya.'' Ruto said when he toured Dangote's refinery in Nigeria last week.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Davis Chirchir said that a number of heads of state will be present today. He expressed confidence in the preparations done ahead of today's event.
Describing the event, Chirchir said Lamu was now being placed on the global stage.
''This is history in the making which we are witnessing in our own time. Right in history, in our own eyes. We are excited as Kenyans and as a region,'' said Chirchir.
On Tuesday, CS Chirchir, alongside Principal Secretary, State Department for Transport, Mr Mohamed Daghar and his Aerospace Development counterpart, Teresia Mbaika, toured the port to assess progress and expressed their satisfaction with the level of preparedness ahead of the event.
Major cargo operations were ongoing at the Lamu port on Tuesday as workers continued to offload 2,930 metric tonnes of heavy construction machinery for the project.
The materials docked at the port on Saturday.
The Manda Airport, which is expected to be used for the aircraft landing for the event, was not in good condition but PS Mbaika said yesterday that the runway had been refurbished for today's event, with plans for expansion of the airport with the refinery coming up.
Deputy President Kithure Kindiki chaired the final high-level inter-ministerial and inter-agency meeting in preparation for the groundbreaking last Tuesday with the Ministries of Defence, Transport, Energy and the Kenya Navy Forces, which are the relevant Ministries expected to play a huge role in the infrastructure
Dangote is confident of what the project could do for the country.
''The refinery is actually a gate; you will be shocked at how many people will now come and invest in Kenya,'' he said when President Ruto visited his refinery in Nigeria last week.
The project will also have a power plant which will produce about 1000MW of electricity, with 500MW expected to be sold to Kenya for the National grid.
While the dignitaries and all the pomp take centre stage, the residents of Mokowe and Mogogoni will be watching keenly.
A section is still not happy with the project due to compensation and resettlement concerns, but others are beaming with excitement, waiting what will be in store for them
The ceremony is expected to start at 9 am.