The Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation Eng. Eric Mugaa on Thursday led stakeholders and other government officials in a tree planting exercise in Lambwe forest that saw about 7,000 seedlings planted.
The CS said that the Ministry has a yearly target to plant 50 million trees as directed by President William Ruto, whom he noted had allocated every Ministry a county to adopt in tree planting, each with targeted number of trees to attain in a program that is projected to achieve 15 billion trees by 2032.
“Following this directive, we as a Ministry have started this initiative but in different jurisdiction of our water works development agencies. These efforts have been ongoing for a week now,” said Mugaa.
He said that planting trees is one of the government’s efforts to preserve water towers and combat climate change for a sustainable environment.
He requested the department of forestry to help in protecting and caring for the trees until maturity.
Mugaa implored the public to embrace tree planting culture to help fight the effects of climate change and for the benefit of the future generation.
The CS was accompanied by the Principal Secretary at the State Department for Water and Sanitation Julius Korir, officials from Kenya Forest Services and other representatives from the Ministry of roads.
Mugaa noted that the government is set to commence last mile connectivity in Oyugis and Kendu Bay to ensure the residents have water.
“The water and sanitation programme will require about Sh 524 million. All these are projects by the government directed towards developing the people,” he pointed out.
Jackline Kemunto, the Chief Executive Officer at Lake Victoria South Water Works Development Agency (LVSWWDA) which was the organizer of the tree planting initiative in Lambwe, said the department’s objective is to plant 30,000 trees.
“We have planted 7, 000 already but our target is to plant 12,000 trees by the end of the week. The additional 5000 trees will be done before the weekends,” she stated.
The CEO observed that as a government agency, they must be in the forefront to fulfil the president’s promise in regards to achieving the targeted 15 billion trees by 2032.
Kemunto reiterated that trees are sources of water and being a water agency, it is imperative that they conserve these sources by spearheading tree planting activities.
The CEO informed that LVSWWDA is working in close collaboration with the Ministry of Forestry to ensure the forest is conserved.
The agency has been undertaking tree planting in Homa Bay and other counties since 2019.
Lambwe Forest Conservator Sharon Cheluget on the other hand reiterated that LVWWDA had adopted the Lambwe 2R section, targeting to plant 30, 000 trees in this planting season.
She appreciated the stakeholders who engaged in the exercise for work well done and commended the efforts by the Ministry of Roads in planting 200,000 seedlings since the inception of the project.
By Sitna Omar
