Abstract
The world is still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic whose impacts are being felt across the globe, though to different magnitudes. Developing countries have struggled to “stay afloat” as they navigate the “new normal” brought about by the coronavirus. The virus has exposed the wide chasm between the rich North, and the poor South that is manifested in the different ways through which the two parts of the globe are responding to the pandemic that caught the world community virtually flat-footed.
COVID-19 is likely to be with us for a long time, and its impacts would be felt even by future generations. This paper looks at how energy poverty and technological challenges exacerbated the pain of COVID-19 on developing countries, and how these states tried to adopt to the virus and “move on” against all odds. Using Kenya as a case study, this discourse takes the position that energy and technology are critical in enabling countries navigate complexities of the COVID-19 landscape. With studies indicating that there could be even worse pandemics in future, developing countries, and notably Kenya, have no option except to up the ante regarding reduction of energy poverty and continuously modernizing their technological infrastructure so as to alleviate impacts of such plagues.
Key words: Kenya, developing countries, COVID-19, pandemic, coronavirus, energy, technology