Munyonyo – President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has called on East African countries to fully embrace regional integration as the surest path to prosperity, strategic security, and socio-economic transformation.
Speaking at the 1st Regional Ministerial Conference on the East African Community Common Higher Education Area (EACCHEA) at Speke Resort Munyonyo, President Museveni outlined five key pillars of integration: prosperity, socio-economic transformation, Pan-Africanism, democracy, and strategic security.
“The only way to achieve prosperity is when each family, company, or individual is involved in producing a good or a service with ekibaaro (calculation). If you do that sustainably and sell it, you will get money and solve your problems,” he said.
The President stressed that prosperity depends on larger markets, regional stability, and education systems that equip citizens to benefit from both. “With all that is happening all over the world, if you are weak, you cannot survive. Apart from economic integration for the whole of Africa, where possible, there should also be political integration,” he added.
He called for reforms in the education sector, especially curriculum alignment, to make learning more relevant to development goals and regional integration efforts.
First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Maama Janet Museveni, reflected on the progress since the EAC was declared a Common Higher Education Area in May 2017.
“I believe that the review of our Common Higher Education Area during this Conference shall help us answer questions such as: the extent to which we have made it competitive not only for students and academic faculty, but for the private sector too as partners in development,” she said.
She urged higher education institutions to align learning and research with real-life challenges, citing Uganda’s Parish Development Model (PDM) as a grassroots program that could benefit from academic innovation.
“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 noted.
Other speakers, including Prof. Mary J.N. Okwakol of the National Council for Higher Education, Prof. Gaspard Banyankimbona of the Inter-University Council for East Africa, and Hon. Andrea Ariik representing the EAC Secretary-General, hailed the conference as “historic” and urged partner states to invest in digital transformation, curriculum harmonisation, and academic mobility to sustain the region’s integration agenda.
“This Conference signals a shared commitment to a higher education setting that is coherent, competitive, and trusted across the region,” Prof. Okwakol said.
She underscored the need to harmonise education systems, boost student and labour mobility, strengthen research collaboration, and address quality assurance challenges, while commending President Museveni for his support of science and innovation.
Prof. Banyankimbona urged partner states to use the conference not just to celebrate progress but to strengthen institutional mechanisms that will sustain the EACCHEA for generations to come.
“The free movement of skilled graduates, enabled by mutual recognition of qualifications and supported by scholarship programs, is not a distant ideal. It is a necessary condition for the success of the EAC Common Market and the broader integration agenda,” noted Prof Banyankimbona.
Representing the EAC Secretary-General, Hon. Andrea Ariik, Deputy Secretary-General of the EAC, described the conference as “historic,” being the first time ministers responsible for higher education have convened specifically on the regionalisation agenda.
“By working together, our higher education institutions can break barriers, harmonise standards, and unleash the full potential of our youth, academics, and researchers,” Hon. Ariik said.
