First Lady Rachel Ruto fights to shake off Kakamega land grab talk
By dennis-lumiti, June 9, 2023First Lady Rachel Ruto yesterday defended her decision to adopt 500 acres of the Kakamega Forest land.
Rachel said yesterday that her move was meant to help her directly to be involved in conservation of the forest.
“Kakamega forest has been losing a lot of trees, wild game and other resources over the years due to illegal logging. My decision is meant to actively protect the 500 acres of land that I have adopted by ensuring that we restore the forest cover,” she said.
The First Lady laughed off claims by some leaders from Kakamega County that she was eyeing part of the forest under the guise of conservation.
She said if many other individuals and institutions had taken up sections of the resource for conservation the way she had done, then the destruction would have been averted.
“Adoption does not mean buying or grabbing. It is a selfless decision to contribute towards the protection of this very important forest,” she added.
Rachel was speaking at Shikusa Prison in Kakamega County when she led members of the public in planting more than 500 tree seedlings at the correctional facility that borders the forest.
She recalled some years back when they would tour the forest while she was a student at Butere Girls High School saying the tree cover was much better then than it is today.
“The tree cover was thick and one could not even more around easily. But it is a sorry situation now and this is what we have embarked on to remedy,” she added.
A section of local leaders present rallied behind the First Lady’s initiative which they termed as Godsend.