Adopt a forest, Tobiko challenges the ACK

16^th April, 2018

Arch of the ACK Jackson Ole Sapit receives Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko at the All Saints Cathedral main hall where he was invited to address principals of ACK sponsored schools during their 3rd national sympo

Cabinet Secretary Keriako Tobiko has challenged the Anglican Church of Kenya to identify and adopt a forest and protect it from encroachment and destruction. He said this when he was invited to address principals of ACK sponsored schools in the country during their 3^rd national symposium that was held at the All Saints Cathedral in Nairobi.

The CS spoke to them about the conservation efforts spearheaded by the Ministry and urged them to encourage their students to plant and adopt trees to ensure they are nurtured to maturity. He decried the low forest cover and observed that if each school planted 1000 tree seedlings and nurtured them, the country’s forest cover will increase tremendously.  ACK has 930 secondary schools and 3500 primary schools.

‘If each school plants and nurtures 1000 trees seedlings, we shall have about 4,500 mature trees and this will go along way in increasing the tree cover from the current 7.2 to the recommended 10% by 2022’, he opined. He added that as a country, we need to plant not less than 250m tree seedlings to bridge the deficit between now and 2022.

He decried the low levels of water in the main water catchment areas of Mau and Mt Kenya as a result of wanton depletion of trees in the towers. He said this destruction had caused climate change effects like persistent droughts and changed the weather pattern in the country.

He noted that the church is experiencing tremendous growth and a paradigm shift in its activities and was providing the necessary trajectory this country should take.   He also observed that the church was shaping students into wholesome human beings in all manifestations i.e spiritually, morally, emotionally, physically and intellectually and this is a critical role undertaken by teachers in building a wholesome nation.

Present during the event was the Archbishop of ACK Jackson Ole Sapit and a renowned gospel musician Rueben Kigame.