The Kisumu Governor, Prof. Anyang’ Nyong’o has urged all Kenyans to plant more trees for a better and healthy environment within the country.
Nyong’o said the posterity of the nation depends on a clean environment reiterating that trees are part of the natural ecosystem meant to purify the air to save mankind from diseases resulting from pollution.
Speaking during the debut Mt. Kenya Mountain Running Championships held at Kenya School of Adventure and Leadership within the Mt. Kenya Forest in Meru County on Saturday, the governor who graced the occasion lauded the county for being at the forefront in promoting forest cover in the region.
The Governor said cancer is a disease that results from inhaling polluted air, hence the need for increasing the forest cover in the country to help in cleaning off the environment from bad air.
He lauded Meru County for making trees part of its partners in life, saying there is a continuous presence of trees and forests in the region.
Prof. Nyong’o asked the country to emulate what happened in America in 1972, while he was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, where the then president Richard Nixon declared that America was going to establish an Environmental Protection Agency.
“There was a lot of controversy about it but at the end it was established. The purpose was to ensure that although they needed timber for industrialization and so on, every state however dry, they must struggle to plant trees,” he recalled mentioning that there are states like New Mexico and Colorado where it was very difficult but efforts were made.
Nyong’o noted that there is need for deliberate efforts among Kenyans to plant trees everywhere so as to have enough rain across the country.
He further attributed the cancer upsurge in the country to the bad eating habits and lack of exercise among the Kenyan population.
“If you know that cancer is your enemy then you cannot entertain it at your dining table. So whatever you eat, whatever you drink do make sure that you learn from that cancer clinic you go to for a test,” advised Nyong’o encouraging everyone to eat healthy and do exercises in order to boost their body immunity against all kinds of diseases.
He lauded the Mt. Kenya Mountain Running Championships, saying it is the first ever mountain running which is a good signal on doing everything possible to prevent cancer.
By Richard Muhambe
