CS Kithure Kindiki Declares Monday A Special Public Holiday

Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki has declared Monday, November 13 a public holiday.

In a Gazette notice dated Monday, November 6, the CS revealed that the holiday will be to allow Kenyans to engage in tree-growing exercises across the country.

"IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by section 3 of the Public Holidays Act, the Cabinet Secretary for Interior and National Administration declares Monday, 13th November 2023, a public holiday in which the public shall be engaged in tree growing countrywide," stated the notice in part.

The CS further stated that the exercise is part of Kenya's Landscape and Ecosystem Restoration Programme-Towards the Growing of Fifteen (15) billion trees.

"There will be a designated National venue for the tree planting presided over by His Excellency (Dr.) William Samoei Ruto, PhD., C.G.H., the President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, and forty-seven (47) County venues, presided over by Cabinet Secretaries and Governors, where all Kenyan citizens and the general public shall be expected to participate," added the notice.

The decision to declare the national holiday was arrived at following the decision of the Cabinet sitting in Mombasa on Friday, November 3, 2023.

National Examinations scheduled for that day shall however proceed normally.

President Ruto has been at the forefront of increasing forest cover in the country by encouraging Kenyans to plant more trees. During his tenure, he plans to plant 15 billion trees by 2032.

The Head of State, during a dinner hosted by Israel's President Isaac Herzog on Tuesday, May 9, revealed that there would be a praying session before planting the trees.

“Mr President, I understand here because, for the first time, I found that we have to pray before we plant trees.

“We’ve always tried to plant trees in Kenya and our success has been mixed; I think because we didn’t have the element of prayer. Now that we do, I am very confident that we will succeed in our plan to plant 15 billion trees in the next 10 years," he told attendees who were left in stitches.

President Ruto marked his 56th birthday on December 21, 2022, by planting 56 trees in line with his age, while officially launching the national tree-planting initiative which aims to mobilize the nation in achieving the target of 15 billion trees.