The Kenya Police has partnered with NGOs, County governments and local communities to take part in tree planting excercise.
In heeding to the government’s initiative on planting 15 billion trees by 2032, the Kenya Police College-Kiganjo fraternity was joined by the spouse to the Prime Cabinet Secretary Madam Tessie Musalia Mudavadi, in planting over 4,000 seedlings within the expansive training college. During the tree planting drive, both exotic and indeginous trees were planted by the college staff and the local community, under the auspices of Ushiriki Wema Initiative, whose patron is Madam Tessie Musalia.
While addressing college staff after the exercise, the spouse to the Prime Cabinet Secretary stated that the collaboration demonstrated the collective commitment of various sectors towards environmental conservation.
“Planting 15 billion trees is a monumental task and to achieve this within the stipulated timeframe, requires dedication, collaboration and perseverance. As members of the National Police Service, you are aware of the importance of discipline, teamwork and sense of duty. I urge you to bring these qualities to the fore in your participation in this tree restoration project,” she said.
The Deputy Inspector General-Kenya Police Service, Mr Douglas Kanja called upon all police officers in the country to plant trees within their stations. Mr Kanja who was representing the Inspector General of police said that the effects of climate change were a key contributing factor to insecurity especially in bandit prone areas, where warring communities were fighting over scarce resources such as water and pasture.
At the same time, the college commandant Mr Nyale Munga stressed on the importance of environmental conservation, adding that the college had fully embraced the tree planting initiative and had so far planted over 14,000 seedlings.
Visually impaired persons living within the local community also joined the college fraternity in the exercise, further stressing on the need to increase the country’s forest cover, as people living with disabilities bear the biggest brunt of climate change.
Other partners including the Tana Water Works, which promised to sink a borehole in the college to aid in the institution’s tree planting efforts, also graced the event that kicked off at 10am.
Other stakeholders included the County Government of Nyeri, the Kenya Forest Service, Mudavadi Memorial Foundation Trust Fund, Ahadi Kenya Trust, among others.
