PM says Mau tree planting on

"For much of last year, we were dealing with the devastating effects of drought in which we lost human lives, crops and thousands of livestock.

"The government had to divert billions of shillings from other areas of the economy to finance drought recovery operations," he said.

Mr Odinga told politicians that the conservation of the environment was of too much importance to be politicised. He was referring to leaders drawn largely from the Rift Valley, who have been opposed to his efforts to reclaim the Mau.

The leaders, led by Agriculture minister William Ruto have been on the forefront of opposing the Mau evictions terming the as "inhumane".

A fundraiser organised by the Rift leaders, which was attended by among others, Cabinet ministers Uhuru Kenyatta, Naomi Shaban, Najib Balala and Franklin Bett, yielded Sh5million. Vice President Kalonzo Musyoka sent his apologies and personal donation.

"I am still persuaded that as leaders and as a generation, we have a mandate and duty to conserve, preserve, protect and promote the Mau for the future of the country, the region and the world.

"........I am convinced that the more we argue over side issues like who is more generous or more caring than who, the more forests get destroyed and the more we will have no trees, let alone forests to talk about by the time we reach an agreement," said the PM.

Mau Forest is the largest indigenous forest in East Africa and Kenya’s most vital water tower, covering about 270,000 hectares.

Among the rivers that originate from the forest are Ewaso Ng’iro, Sondu, Mara and Njoro which feed several lakes in the Rift Valley and Western Kenya, among them Lakes Victoria, Nakuru and even Natron in Tanzania.

Mr Odinga has said more than 7.6 billion trees would be planted countrywide as part of a campaign to conserve forests over the next 10 years and increase Kenya’s forest cover from 1.7 to 10 per cent of the land.