Rachel Ruto Opens Forest Park With 4,000 Trees Planted In 15 Minutes

First Lady Rachel Ruto on Saturday, June 3 inaugurated a new forest park in Kitale, the headquarters town of Trans Nzoia County.

The park is dubbed the Mama Forest Park in Kitale township where a tree-planting exercise in line with her husband, President William Ruto's goal of planting 15 billion trees in the next 10 years, saw 4,000 trees planted in the space of 15 minutes.

The inauguration of the park was part of an ambition to morph the forest in Kitale town into a recreational park.

First Lady, Rachel Ruto waters a tree planted during the inauguration of the Mama Forest Park in Kitale township Forest Block 3 on June 3, 2023. /OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY

In a bid to promote cleanliness in the town, the First Lady also participated in the public sweeping of Kitale streets as well as handed out dustbins to the Trans Nzoia county government.

"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," read a press release sent to newsrooms.

Rachel 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 Kenya's 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 and County Secretary Truphosa Amere.

Others included Kenya Seed Managing Director Sammy Chepsiror, New KCC Managing Director Nixon Sigei, Peter Weru, the Chairman of KEPHIS, and local community forest associations.

On Wednesday, May 10, Rachel announced plans of creating a forest in Machakos and to ensure its success, she picked lessons from her trip to Jerusalem, Israel on seed development, preservation, tree nursery, and seedling nurturing.

"Climate change is a present reality affecting our lives and livelihoods, and it will only get worse if we don't take action. 

"I am excited about the upcoming partnership between MaMa Doing Good and KKL-JNF to establish the 'Zion' forest in Machakos. This is an important step towards restoring our ecosystem and combating climate change," she stated.

President Ruto, 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.