GIC Expansion Project Enters Phase III with 99 New Schools
99 new schools joined the Schools’ Green Initiative Challenge Expansion Project during the launch of Phase III of the afforestation competition at a colorful ceremony held at Tulimyumbu Primary School, Machakos County on 5 May.
This bring to 219 the number of schools currently involved in the tree-planting project implemented by the KenGen Foundation in partnership with Better Globe Forestry and Bamburi Cement limited.
” The task of environmental conservation cannot be left as the sole responsibility of a single or a number of institutions but that of every citizen whether individual or corporate” Mr. Joshua Choge, Chairman KenGen
The event, hosted by the KenGen Foundation, was graced by the presence of KenGen’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Mr. Joshua Choge, and the Acting KenGen MD Eng. David Muthike. Also present were KenGen Eastern Hydros Operations Manager Eng. Francis Kawa; KenGen Business Development Director Moses Wekesa; KenGen Foundation’s Managing Trustee Mike Njeru; the Managing Director Better Globe Forestry Ltd., Jean-Paul Deprins’ and the Director of Corporate Affairs, Communications and Sustainable Development Susan Maingi of Bamburi Cement Ltd.
Mr. Joshua Choge, the chief guest, noted that through the GIC, the Foundation and partners invest more than 10 million annually since the program started in 2013 for a worthy cause, with the results witnessed at Tulimyumbu attesting to this.
“We’re all witnesses to the effects of wanton environmental destruction through logging, illegal charcoal burning, and other such activities that have laid waste many parts of our beautiful country and now threaten the livelihoods of both current and future generations”, he said.
“Each one of us has a duty to stop this. The task of environmental conservation cannot be left as the sole responsibility of a single or a number of institutions but that of every citizen whether individual or corporate,” he added.
Tulimyumbu is one of the 120 school involved in Phase II of the GIC. Under the project, 500 acres of arid and semi-arid land in the counties of Embu, Machakos, and Kitui are set to go green in the ambitious ten-year schools afforestation project.
“…it is imperative for us as KenGen to continue working with all stakeholders to achieve the targeted 10% forest cover in Kenya’s Vision 2030”, David Muthike, Ag. MD KenGen.
The Green Initiative Challenge expansion project involves schools in growing woodlots within their compounds with the drought resistant Muveshi and Mukau tree species. Pawpaw and Passion fruit trees have recently been introduced.
Welcoming the new schools, the acting MD David Muthike noted that…
