11,000 Youths To Be Employed For A Tree-Planting Programme

As part of the government's strategy to boost the country's green cover, President William Ruto said at least 11,000 youth will be engaged to plant over 1.5 million trees in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.

Ruto stated that the initiative will be implemented countrywide through a collaboration between the national government and the county governments in his Jamhuri Day speech on Monday.

“Working with the County Government of Nairobi, we will recruit at least 11,000 young people to grow a minimum of 1.5 million trees in the city’s open and public spaces as part of the big dream of greening the city of Nairobi,” said the president.

“To combat the effects of climate change, we have commenced our plan to grow 15 billion trees on 11 million hectares in every part of Kenya by 2030. Our objective is to increase the national tree cover from the current 12 per cent to 30 per cent over that period,” said the president.

This program will be carried out by the Ministry of Environment in coordination with county governments and numerous other local and international players.

The project, according to Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja, would take the place of the Kazi Mtaani program, which President Ruto cancelled in October, a scheme that will allow the youth to make up to Ksh. 2,500 each week.

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, former president Uhuru Kenyatta created Kazi Mtaani in April 2020 to aid unemployed youth residing in informal settlements.

In October, President Ruto cancelled it, noting that his administration was looking into more effective and up-to-date employment initiatives. He stated that the project's income was minimal and the youth's possibilities were few.