Our Planet with Anthony Mugo

  A new debate has emerged about technologies that have become popular as the preferred pathways towards enabling countries to enhance climate change mitigation initiatives. It is emerging that these technologies, particularly electrification using renewable energy sources, and the expanding influence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) pose serious threats to the same environment they are seeking to protect. AI data centres have become some of the largest consumers of electric power, potentially surpassing global manufacturing. A new report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) has predicted that the annual energy demand by AI data centres will be slightly more than that which is used by Japan over the same period by 2030. Data centre’s demand for energy is principally driven by the need for cooling of servers and other computing accessories. Due to increasing demand for tools such as Chat GPT, data servers are increasing their data processing capacity and hence requiring more ...

  As the global community marked the World Hypertension Day on 17 th May 2025, the national spotlight has turned to the unfolding public health crisis of rising incidence of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) in Kenya, particularly hypertension. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) NCDs, which are also referred to as chronic diseases, are ailments not transmitted directly from one person to another. Whereas they are still not the leading cause of disease and death in Kenya, these conditions are contributing significantly to the increasing economic and human resource loss burden and, therefore, undermining the country’s social and economic development. Responsible for 39 per cent of deaths in Kenya, NCDs have become one of the biggest public health concerns. According to the MoH, 30 percent of Kenyans have hypertension and majority are not aware, hence why it is referred to as the silent killer. If not well controlled, hypertension leads to the most common life-threaten...

  A message that has been going around on social media authored by Mr. Doanh Chau, President of Vietnam Gas makes very sobering reading. Having recently met with both President William Ruto and the Prime Cabinet Secretary, Musalia Mudavadi, Mr. Chau makes observations that have immense sense to any right-thinking Kenyan and African. His readers can reasonably deduce that Mr. Chau’s company may have received some kind of expression of interest from President Ruto and his senior officials about investing in Kenya. The conversations revolved around energy and about Kenya’s future— investment, infrastructure and public housing. The very honest summation of the Vietnamese’s impression of the two gentlemen, which he referred to as the “painful truth” was clear. He observed that the ideas being fronted by the Kenya Kwanza Government are very lofty and good. However, they are just that. Ideas. In his words, “there is no serious execution culture”. He goes ahead to identify the core rea...

  Consulting as an occupation remains poorly understood in Kenya beyond a few traditional professions such as medicine, law, accounting and human resources. For other professions, tertiary training programmes generally do not emphasise the possibility of their graduates starting their own practice in their areas of specialisation. This is even though some professions can offer vital capacities that are universally required and for which companies and individuals are willing to pay a premium to build. This situation makes it doubly difficult for those trained in some professions to package themselves as consultants. This is principally because there are very few or even non-existent tailored training programmes specifically for consulting, particularly in many non-traditional fields. For those who decide to navigate the murky waters and gain the requisite consulting skills through trial and error, the journey towards success can prove to be particularly arduous. Many get discour...

As the dust settles following the freezing of the activities of the United  States Agency for International Development (USAID) globally, work supporting climate change interventions, particularly Climate Smart Agriculture in developing regions of the world will face a serious setback. Most of this  work has been going on under the flagship USAID initiative known as Feed the Future (FTF). FTF was launched in 2010 by the United States Government and the Obama Administration to address global hunger and food insecurity. Divided opinion Opinion remains divided about the abruptness of the freeze, which will officially last for three months (90 days), and which was made on President Trump’s first day in office. The point of contention is whether it bodes well or ill for beneficiary countries. Those who support the move argue that for most developing countries, particularly those in Africa, including Kenya, still rely on donor aid for essential life support services – food prod...

The historic comeback by Donald Trump to the US Presidency, a country which is the world’s second largest source of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, after China, is a major potential setback for global efforts to combat climate change. Trump, whose climate scepticism is well known globally, adopted the mantra “drill baby drill,” while on the campaign trail. The implication is that he would remove any restrictions for drilling and use of fossil fuels in the US that have so far been justified on the basis of getting America to increase its share of renewable energy and, therefore, reduce emissions that are responsible for global warming. In effect, Trump was openly denying, as he has done in the past, the scientific evidence that the climate change being experienced today is the result of human activities. This despite indisputable proof by no other than the highly respected Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that most GHGs emission is as a result of use non-renewable fossil...