Let’s create the UPDF tree-planting brigade

A few months ago, when our good neighbour, Kenya, declared November 13 as their National Tree Planting Day, most Ugandans thought it was another little joke coming at exactly the time when most politicians globally met to simply chat about cutting carbon emissions and rolling back climate change.

 However, as Kenyans dug deep on their first national tree planting day, many doubters in Kampala were left wondering how, out of the blue, the spirit of the late Wangari Maathai had visited the country as an ecological Spiritus-Mundi – inspiration of sorts.

Overall, watching government officials and the military leading the distribution and planting of trees across Kenya on that day was sobering for us in Uganda with scattered patches of lush vegetation on a land that Winston Churchill once christened The Pearl of Africa.

The Kenyans have set such a big target of planting 15 billion trees in about eight years. But what is more prudent is the recognition that it is about every citizen planting a few trees on that special day as a gesture that will eventually make a difference. So, why should Kenya’s new resolve to plant trees matter to a country that sent a delegation of over 600 participants to the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) in Dubai?

As one of the delegates in that bloated list, I learned one important lesson and that is, desperate times call for desperate measures. Our motherland is experiencing the negative effects of depleted forest cover and disappearing wetlands. Climate change apocalypse is the end point if we continue with our current indifference. We must swing to mass action to save our environment, and the first two steps to that end are: creating a UPDF tree-planting brigade; and putting in place a mandatory youth service or military service after school.

Let it be known that the patriotic fruits of the UPDF Engineering Brigade have already been praised in the completed as well as ongoing construction projects in the health and education sectors. In Soroti Regional Referral Hospital, for example, I was happy to monitor the construction of the Oxygen plant and do testify that the UPDF did it in record time and to the required specifications. One then wonders if it isn’t time that, as country, we amalgamated all the UPDF personnel who are not part of the engineering brigade to form the tree-planting brigade. This is obviously the need of the hour.

At the most senior level, the first son, who is commonly referred to as MK, could coordinate this green initiative in the rank and file of the UPDF. Interestingly, since MK has been variously described by his loyal supporters as a ‘standby generator,’ this is an invitation for him to unleash that energy to lead in the tree-planting initiative.

What’s more, as Kenya has demonstrated, the role of the armed forces in making this a success is undeniable. Thus, going forward, we would set an ambitious national tree-planting target of not less than 40 billion trees by 2034.

Moreover, to make this proposal work well for the national good, and to make environmentalism our national value, it is prudent that Parliament formulates legislation to make for compulsory mandatory youth service or military service after school.

There is great wisdom in ensuring that several thousands of youth who graduate from universities and other tertiary institution serve in the military for at least two years. The mandatory military service in Israel, for instance, lasts for 32 months for males who reach the age of 18 and 24 for females. For anyone who refuses to serve, they face imprisonment of up to 200 days.

This is not any sort of utopian fantasy as Uganda has a median age of 16.3 years. Other dropouts below the age of 18, should be conscripted to help with civilian projects such as cleaning our filthy urban area and maintain valuable infrastructure.

 Mr Joan Acom Alobo is the Woman Member of Parliament for Soroti City. [email protected]