Yes, let's fish seedlings from the air and supplant them to earn carbon-credits

President William Ruto during the Annual Kaptagat Forest tree planting at Our Lady of Glory Kaptagat Girls High School in Elgeyo Marakwet County. [File, Standard]

Today is Mazingira Day, so I was expecting the powers that be, who dispense public holidays like njugu karanga to lead in a tree-planting drive. It was pretty sexy to do that a year or two ago, when there was big talk about carbon-credit crap.

Please forgive my salty vocabulary; I have been reading Justin Muturi’s biography, The Fight for Order, and it appears the entire charade wasn’t about the environment but stuffing a few tumbocrats with donor funds.

The idea of planting so many million trees, it turned out, was an extension of that million-chapati machine that Prezzo Bill Ruto promised some city schools. That’s to say, it wasn’t intended literally; it was a figure of speech, same way we talk of paying mamili for what seems like a steep price for anything.

Still, we need to know a little more about carbon-credit manenos. How does it work, honestly?

How many trees of the millions have we reportedly put in the ground over the last three years, actually survived?

That’s not too much to ask, especially since we are aware that the government has not unveiled tree nurseries around the country.

But with the Kenya Kwanza administration, they could fish seedlings out of air and supplant them in the same space with alacrity.

As to what we can do on this day that honours our environment, perhaps we should spare a thought for all the forest areas that continue to face the threat of decimation by the usual suspects. May their extended bellies burn as they doze.