Kenya Launches Ksh9.1B Lamu Runway, Plans Indigenous IP Fair and UDA Leadership School - January 2026

The Kenyan and U.S. governments have launched a Ksh9.1 billion runway expansion project at Kenya Navy Base Manda Bay in Lamu, aiming to enhance regional peace and security operations. Separately, Kenya is set to host its first International Investment Conference and Trade Fair on Indigenous Knowledge Intellectual Assets (IKIA) in Murang’a County in April 2026. This conference is designed to commercialize ancestral knowledge and promote indigenous crops. In the political sphere, the ruling United Democratic Alliance (UDA) party plans to establish a political leadership school. To facilitate this, a UDA delegation led by Secretary General Hassan Omar Hassan is currently in China studying the Communist Party of China's (CPC) expertise in cadre training and grassroots mobilization.