Raila Odinga heeds President Ruto's call to plant trees

Raila

ODM leader Raila Odinga waters a tree which he planted at Suba North National Government Constituency Development Fund office in Homa Bay County on November 13, 2023. 

Photo credit: George Odiwuor | Nation Media Group

Opposition leader Raila Odinga on Monday heeded President William Ruto’s call for a national tree-plating drive, joining thousands of residents in Homa Bay County in the exercise.

Mr Odinga also took advantage of the initiative to launch a mass registration drive for his Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) party after planting a tree at the Suba North National Government Constituency Development Fund office in Mbita Town.

Although Mr Odinga did not mention anything about the initiative, Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga took to Facebook to laud the tree-planting exercise.

She said Homa Bay County aims to increase its forest cover three-fold as part of efforts by the devolved unit to mitigate the adversities of climate change.

"I take this opportunity to challenge [all of] us to take advantage of this holiday to do the needful [for the sake of] our environment,” Ms Wanga said.

The county’s tree-planting exercise took at the Gera water catchment in Gembe hills, just a few kilometres from where Mr Odinga was, but he gave the official function a wide berth. It was officiated by Roads Principal Secretary Joseph Mbugua and Lake Basin Development Authority Managing Director Wycliffe Ochiaga.