Parents have been asked to monitor the weather and keep a watchful eye over their children to ensure their safety as schools reopen on Monday.
Tinderet Member of Parliament (MP) Julius Melly said the rains were expected to continue across the country and asked parents to escort their children especially when crossing rivers to ensure they get to school and back home safely.
“We have floods allover including places that have never experienced this before. Therefore, we have to be vigilant and escort our children to school especially where they are crossing big rivers so that their safety is guaranteed as schools resume,” Melly said.
Speaking during a tree planting exercise at Gotnelel Girls Secondary School in Tinderet Constituency, the MP said the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) has released emergency funds to repair infrastructure in schools affected by floods in the area.
This, he said will ensure the institutions are ready for the second term which starts on Monday.
As a long term measure to mitigate floods, he added, two percent of the CDF kitty will go towards the tree planting drive to boost forest cover in the constituency.
The initiative, he said will target the youth to produce seedlings which shall then be distributed to schools and religious institutions to help attain the national target of planting 15 billion trees by the year 2032.
He added that the tree planting initiative also targets riparian areas to ensure they are properly rehabilitated to control flooding and landslides.
“This program is going to help our youth to earn income. We are going to engage them in the production of seedlings which shall be bought by CDF for distribution,” he said.
Tinderet Deputy County Commissioner (DCC) Esther Oyugi asked people occupying riparian land and those living in areas prone to landslides to move to safer grounds to avert loss of lives.
“Recently we had a rock fall at Torondo area and I am appealing to our people to watch out and move away from these areas,” the DCC said.
She reiterated calls to escort children to school especially in areas affected by floods to guarantee their safety as schools reopen on Monday.
Kenya Forest Service (KFS) Tinderet Sub-County Manager Fredrick Lito said 20, 500 seedlings were planted in the area during the National Tree Planting Day.
“In Tinderet Forest we have planted 10,000 trees at Kebenet, 8,000 trees at Kunyak and 2, 000 trees at Teodet and Nyayo Tea Zones,” he said.
KFS in partnership with One Acre Fund and Tinderet Community Forest Association (CFA), he said has enough seedlings asking the community to take advantage and plant trees during this rainy season.
“At KFS we are giving out the seedlings for free and others at a subsidized fee to support the national tree planting drive,” he said.
Tinderet and Nandi County as a whole, he said was progressing well with the exercise saying the area now has over 20 percent forest.
By Kosuri Valarie
