Nakuru city manager Gitau Thabanja has admonished Nakuru city residents for prioritizing placing billboards over planting more trees to beautify the city.
Addressing Nakuru residents during a public participation forum in Nakuru’s Red Cross offices, Thabanja said that the city’s 2050 plan that envisioned greener spaces and eased mobility will not be realized if billboards were erected at the expense of growing trees.
“In some years to come, Nakuru city is going to be referred to as a billboard city,” he said singling some areas which were initially full of trees that have since been replaced with billboards.
He was reacting to the sentiments by residents who urged the city’s management to encourage people to park their vehicles outside the town and either walk or cycle to the city centre.
A resident Abel Otieno pointed an accusing finger at the County law enforcers for disallowing cyclists from the town yet bicycles were environmentally friendly.
“Most of the law enforcement officers in town are harassing the cyclists with no reason in the name of wrong parking yet the county government has never provided a place where they can park their bicycles,” he complained, urging the city manager to take a quick action on that.
Thabanja promised that they would collaborate with other agencies to provide parking bays in the city to encourage cycling that was healthy and environmentally friendly.
He also promised to work hand in hand with the residents to green up Nakuru city by planting trees and flowers to bring back its lost glory, when it was referred to as the ‘green city’.
By Merceline Khaemba and Eddah Khayanga
