Picture thisโฆ
In December 2023, the Global Center for Adaptation (GCA), led by Dutch professor Patrick Verkooijen quietly gives the University of Nairobi about โฌ1.2 million for a climate-related research partnership.
A generous act, right?
But just weeks later, in January 2024, President William Ruto appoints that very same Patrick Verkooijen as Chancellor of the University of Nairobi ,the same university that had just received money from his organization.
Then the story shifts.
In the Netherlands, Global Center on Adaptationโs own home country, the Government starts to lose faith.
By 2025, Dutch ministries ,including Infrastructure & Water and Foreign Affairs announce theyโre withdrawing funding the Global Center on Adaptation , citing budget issues, governance concerns, and questions of political entanglementโฆ
Translation: they no longer trust how itโs being run.
Yet while the Netherlands is pulling away, Kenya is leaning inโฆIn July 2025, Ruto and Verkooijen stand side by side in Nairobi, smiling for the cameras as they host a groundbreaking ceremony for GCAโs new African headquarters.,They call it a โdual headquartersโ in Rotterdam(Netherlands )and Nairobi.
But the truth is simple, the Dutch government wants nothing more to do with it, and the organization is already shifting its base entirely to Kenya.
Then, without public debate, another move happens.
On May 2, 2025, Kenya quietly publishes Legal Notice No. 82 of 2025 , officially granting GCA diplomatic-style immunity under the Privileges and Immunities Act.
That means this foreign NGO now operates above Kenyan lawโฆIt canโt be sued, canโt be investigated, canโt be audited, and its offices are legally untouchable ,even by government๐ณ๐ณ
And as if thatโs not enough, the same NGO will now house Kenyaโs Ministry of Environment inside its new headquarters ,the very ministry meant to regulate environmental policy and partnerships like this one.
All thisโฆ happened in under two years.
If this is what โclimate partnershipโ looks like,
then maybe itโs time we start asking whoโs really adapting to who.
Why does such an NGO need a diplomatic style immunity?
Here is my full video on the same
youtu.be/RTxyH23o6f8?si=FRTFโฆ
@GCAdaptation why does such you need immunity?