NAIROBI, Kenya—The chair of the county First Ladies Association, Alamitu Jattani, has outlined some of her colleagues’ roles regarding Climate Change.
Alamitu, who doubles as the County First Lady of Marsabit, said on climate change issues, the Counties First Ladies have been championing with other champions in the country to plant trees.
“After planting these trees, we nurture them to ensure maturity. So, we plant many trees during our mentorship programs in schools and communities,” said Alamitu.
The organisation of spouses of Kenyan governors includes the men despite the name.
“The other major issue is deforestation, especially where I come from Marsabit, where our forests are diminishing,” she added.
How Kenyan governors’ wives are fighting deforestation
The spouses of Kenyan governors have partnered with various organisations and county governments where women who usually go to the forests to cut trees for their livelihoods in charcoal and domestic use have been given alternative ways of doing things.
According to Alamitu, Marsabit’s county government has employed women to clean around urban centres and avoid the forests.
“The other issue we encourage people to do is cycling. Like Nairobi, most rural counties rely on boda boda cyclists, the biggest emitters, but if people learn how to cycle, it will be on this,” she added.
She observed that before the entry of motorcycle boda bodas, there were bicycle boda bodas, which she said were efficient.
“We are encouraging them as a way of health because we have had issues where people are no longer walking but using the boda bodas to cover very short distances,” explained Alamitu.
What are the pillars of the governors’ wives association
She said the association has many pillars, like education, climate change, and mentorship.
“For instance, the first lady of Kajiado County champions the climate change pillar, and she has done a lot of work, especially partnering with the county government of Kajiado and Taka Ni Mali, and so they have set up a waste recycling plant in Kitengela which has been a game change for the youth and women in that area,” said Alamitu.
Alamitu went on to say that the former First Lady of Narok and the current First Lady of Kajiado have also taken initiatives to embrace alternative ways of housing.
“In terms of not using sticks and twigs as they were, they are now coming together to use soil bricks to build bigger, better, and larger houses fitted with longer doors and windows,” she added.
