By Cally Imbayi
Kakamega East Scouts Commissioner, Dickson Mambili, has asked the government through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry to engage scouts for the nationwide tree planting program.
While speaking during the sub county scouts camp at Likhovero Primary School in Shinyalu Constituency, Kakamega County, the commissioner said the government should allocate funds through the Kenya Scouts Association in order to raise enough tree seedlings to be planted in schools.
“We are asking the president who is also the scouts’ patron in the country to provide funds through the Ministries of Environment and Forestry and that of Education in order to support scouts to raise tree seedlings in schools in order to get sustainable supply to suffice for all the schools across the country.
“Up to now in Shinyalu Constituency, we have planted 4,000 trees but we are targeting 30,000 trees to be planted in schools across the Kakamega east sub county as scouts.
“So, we are urging the president, stakeholders and other sponsors to come in and boost the scouts’ initiative as we respond to the president’s clarion call to plant trees in order to increase the forest cover in the country. We need to plant as many trees as possible during this long rainy period.” Mambili said.
Mambili also urged all schools to utilize scouts in the tree planting programs and awareness as they are flexible and can reach out to many people in the community since they come from different areas.
He called upon the MPs including the area MP Hon. Fred Ikana to support the initiative through the National Government Constituency Development fund-NGCDF
President William Ruto has called on Kenyans to plant more trees in order to increase the forest cover in the next 10 years in order to mitigate the effects of climate change.
The initiative aims at planting 15 billion trees by 2032 in order to reduce greenhouse emissions, stop and reverse deforestation, and restore 5.1 million hectares of deforested and degraded landscapes through the African Landscape Restoration Initiative.
