Tharaka Nithi — Tharaka Nithi governor Muthomi Njuki has issued fresh orders aimed at curbing the careless cutting down of trees for charcoal, asking traders to seek county permits before cutting any tree, in addition to the chief's permit.

Speaking at the Kathwana Stadium at an event to kickstart the National Tree Planting day, governor Njuki said there arose a problem of charcoal traders invading forests and homesteads, offering little money for trees for charcoal business yet they were making a killing out of it.

He said the executive would formulate a bill for onward transmission to the assembly, seeking to protect hills in the county and a possibility of completely banning charcoal burning in efforts to conserve forests.

Tharaka Nithi county is one of those that experiences drought and small amounts of rain.

Governor Njuki noting the exercise to re - forest the county was already in the pipeline.

The governor has also banned bee keeping in forests as well as selling of firewood to tea factories.

Parliamentary Affairs principal secretary Aurelia Ronoh, who represented Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi, who is away from the country, asking Kenyans to heed to President William Ruto's call to plant trees and achieve the 15 billion trees cover by 2032.

The event in Tharaka Nithi was in conjunction with TransNation Sacco which has set out to plant over 5 million trees in Meru and Tharaka Nithi counties in this financial year. - Kna