Murang’a County residents have been urged to nurture trees that they plant during the ongoing rainy season to ensure that they do not wither and die when the rains subside.
Speaking during a drive to launch tree planting in police stations on Monday, Murang’a County Police Commander (CPC), Naomi Ichami said after planting the trees, it was only fair to nurture them to maturity to serve the intended purpose.
She noted that very year, the government spearheads massive planting of trees across the country but many a time, the seedlings were left to dry due to lack of water thus defeating the very purpose of such noble initiatives.
Ichami advised residents to harvest water from the ongoing rains and store it for later use during the dry season. She emphasized on the need for water harvesting by fixing gutters in all buildings and storing the commodity in tanks.
The CPC was presiding over a tree planting exercise at the Murang’a police station in a simultaneous exercise that was taking place in all police stations and camps across the County.
Ichami advised the Nyumba Kumi members to form community groups through which they could apply for loans to buy water tanks. The tree planting exercise was organized in collaboration with Community Policing Committees.
At the same time, since the onset of the current rains, there has been a series of tree planting exercises across the County, by various groups and so far 62, 000 seedlings have already been distributed.
Speaking during the event, the National Environmental Management Authority (NEMA) County Director, Ezra Ng’ang’a stressed that it was the duty of every resident to safeguard and improve on the environment.
Also present were the County Director of Meteorology, Paul Murage, Rotary International Murang’a Chapter President, Juliet Kimuhu, police officers, students from Murang’a University of Technology, Nyumba Kumi members and government officers from the two levels of government.
By Judith Thuo
