Court Committee Embarks on an Afforestation Programme

Iten,

Friday, October 13, 2023

KNA by Alice Wanjiru

The Keiyo North Case Committee has embarked on afforestation programme targeted to replenish Kessup forest with at least 1,000 trees.

According to the Iten Senior Principal Resident Magistrate Charles Kutwa, the programme will entail referring convict serving under the Community Service Order (CSO) within the vicinity to nurture the trees to maturity.

The exercise will see the case committee plant 1,000 trees on an 8-acre plot allocated by the Kenya Forest Service with 500 trees being planted on the first day of the exercise.

The magistrate said the action would be their contribution to enabling the government increase forest cover to meet the target of 15 billion trees by 2032.

Kutwa who is also the chair of the committee said this is part of rehabilitation of the convicts as they would be gaining skills they could use to plant and grow their trees which they could then sell and earn an income.

The chairman said all convicts even those facing serious crimes could be put on community service but regretted that community members failed to accept them as they believed that one could only receive punishment when he/she is put in prison.

“Most people in the community don’t understand that being placed on CSO, on probation or behind bars are all part of the process of sentencing offenders,” he said.

Nabachija Nakuya from Prisons’ Department said it would reduce pressure in prison as itwould cut down the cost of maintaining prisoners and also reduce congestion.

The forest manager Kessup forest station Hans Juma said the department is ready to avail seedlings to all interested in planting trees especially during the current short rains season.

Courtesy; KNA