As the country celebrated its first-ever Mazingira Day, President William Ruto, a champion of climate change, was missing in action.
Apart from a "Happy Mazingira Day" post on his X, the president remained mum the rest of the day and did not make a public appearance by the time of publishing this story. Interestingly, Ruto renamed the day from Huduma Day to Mazingira Day in a move to accelerate environmental protection and raise awareness of the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity, and pollution.
While his wife, First Lady Rachel Ruto, hosted the first First Lady's Mazingira Awards (FLAMA) Ceremony at State House, the president was not present.
The event was attended by a host of top government officials including Environment Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale, and Education PS Belio Kipsang. Schoolchildren, who were the center of the award, were also present.
While launching the First Lady Mazingira Award Ceremony at the State House, the First Lady revealed that school-going children are the center of climatic change and should be honored.
The awards, which were officially launched last week at a Nairobi Hotel with a call for more involvement of young people in mitigating climate change, saw students from different counties in the country be awarded.
At the event, Duale also revealed the crucial role the Kenya Defense Forces and the National Youth Service have in President William Ruto's vision of planting 15 Billion trees by 2030.
CS Duale revealed that the Kenya Kwanza government is serious with its vision to plant 15 billion trees by 2030. He revealed that to ensure this happens, President William Ruto gave every Cabinet Secretary, County Commissioner, and Governor a target for the number of trees they must grow.
According to the CS, the government is also looking into ensuring that 30% of the 15 Billion trees planted are fruit trees.
He revealed that the government has tasked the Kenya Defense Force (KDF), National Youth Service (NYS), Kenya Forest Service (KFS), Kenya Forestry Research Institute (KeFRI), and the Kenya Prison with ensuring the right seedlings are distributed in the country to ensure fruit trees are part of the 15 Billion trees.
Rachel Ruto's award comes at the backdrop of highlights that environmental education has been integrated into the school curriculum aligning with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 and the national goal to plant 15 billion trees by 2030.
The Mazingira Awards program spearheaded by the First Lady has already impacted 89,000 learners from private and public schools and aims at equipping 18 million learners with practical skills.
