The First Lady of Kenya, Mama Rachel Ruto championed effective management of solid waste in urban areas by participating in a public sweeping of Kitale streets.
She further distributed 25 dustbins to the County Government of Trans Nzoia, which will be installed across the town in areas with high traffic.
Later, Mama Rachel Ruto inaugurated the Mama Forest Park in Kitale township Forest Block 3, where over 4,000 trees were planted in 15 minutes.
The 15-acre forest park is part of the Kenya Forest Service Master Plan, which aims to convert the Kitale township forest into a recreational park.
The First Lady cited women’s role in environmental conservation, urging them to plant trees and adopt clean cooking technologies in place of firewood to reduce deforestation and household emissions-related illnesses that kill over 23,000 people annually in Kenya.
The tree planting activity is part of the First Lady’s commitment to plant 500 million trees in 10 years, in support of the President’s directive of 15 billion trees by 2032 to grow our tree cover to the recommended 30 per cent to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
The First Lady was accompanied by, among others, Dr. Robert Pukose, Member of Parliament Endebess, Lillian Natembeya, the spouse to Transzoia Governor George Natembeya, County Secretary Truphosa Amere, Kenya Seed Managing Director Sammy Chepsiror, New KCC Managing Director Nixon Sigei, Peter Weru, the Chairman of KEPHIS, and local community forest associations.
