Ruto must lead the war on climate change from the front as promised

When President William Ruto took to the lectern to give his inaugural speech, I listened keenly, word for word, waiting for just one promise: To act on the climate crisis.

I had almost given up on the hope that climate action would feature as a key issue in his government, when he, at the fag end of his speech, made a pledge that became my highlight for the day.

He termed climate change a central concern for his government.

It is now time for the President to act on the centrality of this concern.

As a journalist passionate about enlightening people on the reality of climate change, I feel deprived when our actions betray the same planet we live on.

Some scientists argue that we are in the Anthropocene Epoch, which means that human activities choke the sanity of our climate and environment.

Mr President, I implore you to be at the forefront in breaking down the realities of climate change to the Kenyan people with the hope of finding solutions.

Already, climate change feels like an alien term that hoodwinks some Kenyans to believe it’s a conspiracy theory.

The truth is that not so many people, literate and illiterate, understand that the damage that is happening to our planet is a result of climate change.

Recently, I wrote a story about wars that come about as a result of the water crisis arising from the ongoing drought in the country’s arid and semi-arid lands. When I was there, the residents asked for guns and water. 

Plethora of negative impacts

Guns for protection, and water for survival. As an outsider, I wondered of what use the guns would be to the people except to spark off even more violence.

But the more people I spoke to, the more I got the gist of their idea. They feel helpless and it’s only them who know where the shoe pinches.

Verily, drought has resulted in a plethora of negative impacts—food insecurity, malnutrition, loss of lives and livelihoods and it’s now brewing inter-community wars.

Even as the campaign season is past, the Kenyan common parlance, “listening to the ground” (to mean taking into consideration the voice of the people) should remain alive.

Here are a few ideas on what to do as the man in charge of the House on the Hill.

Mr President, the Good Book that I believe you draw inspiration from, says that people perish for lack of knowledge.

We’re on the brink of perishing. If only you can take a leaf from former US Vice-President Al Gore and find a way of infusing environment and climate change matters in your State of the Nation addresses, it will sink into people’s minds.

If you can, please come up with frequent environment and climate change awareness weeks. On those days, different activities related to the environment can be carried out. 

Rwanda’s capital Kigali, for instance, has a car-free day, whose aim is to not only promote healthy lifestyles but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from vehicular traffic. 

What if we come up with a week, or day, when all politicians talk about the environment and climate change in their areas and newspapers, radios and TV stations amplify that?

Our climate scientists have rich knowledge that was not appreciated by the previous regime.

Your government should empower climate experts to go the bottom-up way—speak to the people at the grassroots in search of local solutions on mitigation and adaptation.

It will also be fair to allocate a sufficient budget for the environment- and climate change-related issues. That will empower the scientists to do more research on solutions for the impacts of climate change.

When I spoke to some residents of Isiolo County recently, they said the harsh climatic conditions made them feel alienated from the rest of Kenya.

If you can, spare time and pay them a visit and see that, indeed, climate change is not a phenomenon but a reality. You will then be fast in acting on the “central” issue you spoke about at your inauguration. 

It goes beyond a commitment to invest in renewable energy when people are already dying from the impact of climate change. If I must say it, “kwa ground vitu ni different”, and the climate crisis is not far-fetched.

Ms Shikanda is a science reporter with the ‘Daily Nation’. [email protected].