By Nancy Oseur
On May 11, 2026, during the Africa Forward Summit held in Nairobi, President William Ruto stated that Kenya is now manufacturing phones and computers. In his remarks, President Ruto said, “ We are manufacturing now here in Kenya a lot of digital assets, whether it is phones, computers, and all digital infrastructures; we are laying fibre optics to 30km already in Kenya to make sure every part of Kenya is in the loop,” positioning the country as part of an emerging African manufacturing ecosystem.
Screengrab of the post on NTV’s official X account.
The claim gained attention across media reports. On X, a post by NTV Kenya sharing the President’s remarks recorded over 293 thousand views within a few days of publication. They also shared the video on their official Facebook page, where it attracted over 140,000 comments and 4,000 reactions within days of posting, alongside higher view counts across reshared copies on media pages.
The same clip also appeared on YouTube and Instagram, where it accumulated tens of thousands of combined views across reposted versions, reflecting sustained public attention and debate around the President’s remarks.
The announcement sparked significant public debate, with many Kenyans questioning the accuracy of the President’s remarks. Critics argued that Kenya does not manufacture smartphones from scratch but instead assembles imported components into finished devices locally.
BACKGROUND: WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING IN KENYA’S PHONE INDUSTRY
The Africa Forward Summit is a high-level forum that convenes African leaders, investors, and technology executives to discuss innovation, industrialization, and investment opportunities across the continent. President William Ruto’s remarks came as Kenya seeks to position itself as a regional technology and manufacturing hub, making the summit a strategic platform to showcase recent developments, including local smartphone assembly and expanded digital infrastructure.
Kenya’s mobile phone sector has grown in recent years through the establishment of local smartphone assembly operations rather than full-scale manufacturing plants. This shift is evidenced by the launch of the East Africa Device Assembly Kenya (EADAK) plant in Athi River in October 2023, which is designed to assemble up to 3 million smartphones annually. The plant assembles entry-level smartphones such as the Neon series, working through partnerships with telecommunications and distribution companies. During the launch, the Presidency published a statement titled “Production of Local Smart Devices” to Drive Digital Growth.
On 10th November 2023, President William Ruto announced that Kenya was set to manufacture the cheapest smartphone in Africa within a year. Speaking at the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) roundtable forum at PCEA St Andrew’s, Nairobi, the president said, “ We are working with the telecommunication sector so that we can have a smartphone that is going to be less than Ksh5,000. In the next 8-12 months, we will have the cheapest smartphone in Africa, manufactured in Kenya.” 
Screengrab of President Ruto saying phones will cost Ksh. 5,000
Using broad terms such as “local production” in official communication, the government said the initiative would support the “production of affordable smart devices” in Kenya. The wording emphasized domestic production, although the facility primarily assembles imported components into finished phones. (President.go.ke)
The same language was used again in May 2026 during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi. President Ruto stated that “we are manufacturing in Kenya a lot of digital assets, phones and computers.”
A similar model operates through the M-KOPA smartphone assembly line in Nairobi, which works in partnership with HMD (Human Mobile Devices), the company that designs Nokia-branded smartphones. According to M-KOPA, this model has helped millions of customers access smartphones and digital financial services across Africa. In a newsroom statement published on 6 November 2024, M-KOPA announced that it had assembled more than 1.5 million smartphones locally since launching its Nairobi assembly facility in January 2023 in partnership with HMD. The company said the factory had grown into the largest smartphone assembly facility in sub-Saharan Africa and employed more than 325 people. In both cases, the production process relies heavily on imported components such as processors, batteries, screens, and circuit boards, which are then assembled locally before distribution.
WHY THE CONFUSION EXISTS
A key reason for the confusion is that the terms assembly and manufacturing are often used interchangeably in public communication, even though they refer to different stages of production.
Manufacturing involves producing a product and, in many cases, its core components from raw materials.
In global industrial terms, manufacturing smartphones involves a complete production ecosystem that includes the design and fabrication of core components such as semiconductors, processors, display panels, batteries, and printed circuit boards. The perception that Kenya manufactures smartphones is largely shaped by how government officials, companies, and media outlets describe local assembly activities.
Assembly, by contrast, is the process of putting together parts that have already been manufactured elsewhere. In Kenya’s case, companies such as EADAK and M-KOPA import components including screens, processors, batteries, and camera modules, and then assemble them locally into finished smartphones for sale.
A second factor is the visibility of assembly plants such as EADAK and M-KOPA. In May 2026, Business Daily published a feature on M-KOPA’s Nairobi factory, describing how more than 7,500 smartphones are assembled each day. Media reports like this provide tangible evidence that phones are being produced locally, which can strengthen the public’s impression that Kenya is engaged in full-scale smartphone manufacturing, even though key components such as processors, displays, camera modules, and memory chips are sourced from abroad.
A third factor is the branding and marketing of devices using phrases such as Made in Kenya and “locally assembled in Kenya.” A good example is the “Smartphones Made in Kenya” article published by ONPoint News, referring to the Neon devices assembled by East Africa Device Assembly Kenya Limited at its Athi River plant. Such language emphasizes local value addition and national industrial progress. Manufacturing is commonly understood to mean producing goods from raw materials or making core components, many Kenyans interpreted the statement to mean that smartphones are being produced entirely within the country.
Taken together, the repeated use of terms like “local production” and “manufacturing,” the visibility of assembly plants such as EADAK and M-KOPA, and marketing language that emphasizes Kenyan origin have contributed to the widespread belief that Kenya manufactures smartphones from scratch.
VERIFICATION
However, a closer examination of the country’s actual industrial structure shows that this framing is not technically accurate.
To verify the President’s claim, Piga Firimbi reviewed official government statements, company disclosures, media reports, and international industry standards on what constitutes smartphone manufacturing.
East Africa Device Assembly Kenya (EADAK) in Athi River and M-KOPA’s assembly plant in Nairobi are both facilities that publicly describe their activities as assembling smartphones locally from imported components, as stated in a 6 November 2024 newsroom release by M-KOPA.
Kenya does not currently have such infrastructure. There is no evidence of semiconductor fabrication plants, large-scale chip manufacturing, or full electronics production ecosystems within the country. As early as 2026, the smartphone industry is dominated by countries such as China, Vietnam, India, and South Korea, which continue to be large-scale industrial supply chains where raw materials are transformed into finished electronic devices.
The accurate position is: Kenya assembles smartphones locally using imported components.
VERDICT
The claim by President Ruto that Kenya manufactures smartphones is MISLEADING.
Add comment