Frustrations have been setting in among the thousands of youths engaged in Kazi Mitaani after President Ruto abolisher the program
By HARRIET MUGO
Days after abolishing the popular “Kazi Mitaani” program that employed thousands of youths to clean the environment, President Ruto has moved to quell a growing frustration.
He has announced that the youths engaged in Kazi Mitaani will now be used to plant trees.
Ruto says his government in its bid to reverse the adverse effects of climate change will plant 15billion trees by 2032.
He will use the youths previously engaged in Kazi Mitaani to help him achieve that target.
Kazi Mitaani was a program of the government of President Uhuru Kenyatta to give young people jobs to clean the environment and the streets.
It was a popular initiative that kept jobless youths engaged and in the process they earned their daily upkeep.
President Ruto said the young people will be given jobs to plant trees as one way to include them in contributing to changing the environment.
“We used to hire all the young men for street work, we will hire them to plant trees. We must contribute to changing the environment. We want to plant trees because environmental change is something that is really happening. We have employment opportunities for our youth,” President Ruto said.
During the celebration of Heroes’ Day, in his speech, President Ruto called on every Kenyan to volunteer and plant three hundred trees to celebrate his goal of reaching 15 billion trees by the end of 2032.
“If we plant 15 billion trees, every Kenyan will have to grow 300 trees. We plan to grow 5 billion trees in the next five years and an additional 10 billion trees by 2032.” Ruto said.
