Professor Patrick Verkooijen’s appointment as the brand new chancellor of the College of Nairobi is a testomony to his shut ties with President William Ruto.
Apparently, the Dutch nationwide was instrumental in serving to Ruto and former President Uhuru Kenyatta land jobs within the world organisations related along with his firm.
As an illustration, in September 2023, after ascending to energy, Ruto joined the International Middle on Adaptation (GCA) advisory board courtesy of an invite by Verkooijen.
GCA is a worldwide organisation based by Verkooijen, specializing in local weather change adaptation packages.
A photograph of the College of Nairobi (UoN) towers in Nairobi County.
Kenyans.co.ke
“I sit up for working carefully with Professor Verkooijen and the Board to construct on the USD 6.7 billion (Ksh1 trillion that the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP) has already invested in resilient local weather initiatives in 27 nations since 2021.
“By working collectively I’m assured that we’ll make nice progress in guaranteeing that worldwide commitments to ship extremely strategic and complete adaptation responses are fulfilled,” Ruto acknowledged after touchdown the position.
Then again, Verkooijen additionally shared shut ties with Ruto’s predecessor, Uhuru, who was named the AAAP world champion in July 2022.
On the time, he famous that Uhuru had made notable strides in addressing local weather change within the nation.
“You (Uhuru) pioneered Kenya’s dedication to land degradation neutrality. You ratified the Paris Settlement in report time. You made Kenya one of many first nations globally, not simply in Africa however globally, to announce and submit formidable NDC (Nationally Decided Contributions) targets, and there may be rather more,” he acknowledged then.
Who’s Verkooijen?
Aside from being the founder and Chief Govt Officer (CEO) of the International Middle on Adaptation (GCA), Verkooijen can be a scholar.
He has a PhD from Wageningen College and a grasp’s in philosophy from the College of Amsterdam. For his undergraduate, he studied environmental engineering on the College of Utrecht.
“In 2022, Prof. Verkooijen was awarded an honorary doctorate by the College of Nairobi in recognition of his championing of local weather resilience for Africa. He was additionally honoured with the Inexperienced Deal Prize within the 2022 Monetary Afrik Awards,” learn his bio on GCA.
A photograph collage of UoN Chancellor Patrick Verkooijen (left) and President William Ruto.
Photograph
Planetary Safety Initiative/ PCS
