Ruto–EAC leaders row deepens over roads, economy claims as Tanzania reprimands Nairobi
A diplomatic row appears to be brewing between Kenya and Tanzania after a senior Tanzanian minister publicly challenged remarks made by President William Ruto regarding regional infrastructure and economic status.
Tanzania’s Minister for Works, Abdallah Ulega, on Tuesday, April 21, 2026 reprimanded and dismissed President Ruto’s claims that Kenya has a larger network of tarmacked roads than all its East African neighbours combined, terming the statements misleading and inaccurate.
He further criticised the remarks as demeaning to Tanzania under the leadership of President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
In his response, Ulega disputed Kenya’s classification as a higher middle-income country, maintaining that both Kenya and Tanzania fall within the same economic bracket.
“Tanzania is a lower-middle-income country, and in East Africa there are only two of us—ourselves and our neighbours, Kenya,” Ulega said.
The minister also took issue with the figures cited by President Ruto on road infrastructure across the region.
According to Ulega, Tanzania alone has approximately 16,000 kilometres of tarmacked roads spanning both urban and rural areas, challenging the assertion that Kenya’s network surpasses that of all its neighbours combined.
“If you take Tanzania’s 16,000 kilometres and add it to theirs, you get over 22,000 kilometres. Therefore, claims that all East African countries combined cannot reach 20,000 kilometres are not true,” he added.
President Ruto had made the contested remarks on Sunday, April 20, 2026 during a church service, where he defended Kenya’s relatively high fuel prices by pointing to its economic standing and infrastructure development.
He stated that Kenya has about 20,000 kilometres of tarmacked roads, with an additional 6,000 kilometres under construction.
Ruto had claimed that Kenya is the only middle-income country in the region and that its road network exceeds the combined road infrastructure of its regional peers. Ruto made the remarks while trying to justify Kenya’s higher fuel prices compared to its neighbours.
“Kenya is a middle-income country; our neighbours are the least developed countries. There is a big difference. If you want to compare Kenya fairly with others, compare Kenya with other middle-income countries. Middle-income countries like Kenya have possibly higher prices than Kenya or the same,” Ruto said then.
“If you add the number of kilometres in Uganda, Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, it is not 20,000 kilometres. So the 20,000 kilometres we have in Kenya is more than all the tarmac in all the other seven countries in EAC,” President Ruto added.
“Kenya is a middle-income country; our neighbours are the least developed countries. There is a big difference…If you add the kilometres of tarmac roads in Uganda, Tanzania, DRC, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan, it does not reach 20,000 kilometres, ” Ruto said.
The exchange has sparked debate over the accuracy of regional infrastructure data and economic classifications, potentially straining relations between Nairobi and Dodoma if the disagreement escalates.
