KAMPALA, Uganda — President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has called on East African nations to embrace regional integration as a crucial step toward prosperity, security and economic transformation.
Speaking today at the first Regional Ministerial Conference on the East African Community Common Higher Education Area, Museveni outlined five key pillars for integration: prosperity, socio-economic transformation, Pan-Africanism, democracy and strategic security. He emphasized that prosperity can only be achieved by producing goods and services for wider regional markets.
“If you are weak, you cannot survive,” Museveni told attendees, urging for political and economic integration across the continent. He stressed that a strong regional bloc is necessary to overcome tribal politics and ensure stability.
First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Janet Museveni addressed the conference, noting that the meeting was the first of its kind since the East African Community was declared a Common Higher Education Area in 2017. She said education must become a catalyst for socio-economic transformation by equipping citizens to participate in the regional job market.
“Higher education needs to transform itself from being perceived as an ivory tower of ideas, to becoming the solution to common socio-economic challenges that households encounter in their day-to-day lives,” she said.
The conference, which brought together ministers and education leaders from across the region, focused on harmonizing higher education systems to boost student and labor mobility.
Prof. Mary J.N. Okwakol, executive director of the National Council for Higher Education in Uganda, described the conference as a “landmark moment” that signals a shared commitment to a more coherent and competitive education setting.
Prof. Gaspard Banyankimbona, executive secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa, praised Uganda for hosting the event, calling it a historic step toward advancing curriculum harmonization and academic mobility.
“The free movement of skilled graduates, enabled by mutual recognition of qualifications…, is not a distant ideal. It is a necessary condition for the success of the EAC Common Market and the broader integration agenda,” he said.
