Kinyarwanda
English
Rwanda National Police (RNP) officers conducted a special community work exercise (Umuganda) in Ndera Sector, Gasabo District, on Saturday, October 17, to maintain planted trees and prevent soil erosion and landslides.
The exercise brought together 260 officers from Police General Headquarters in Kacyiru and Central Region. Activities included maintaining planted trees, removing lantana (Umuhengeri), which competes with other trees, and digging holes to replace dried trees.
Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Jean Pierre Gatabazi, from the RNP department responsible for community policing, thanked the officers, noting that environmental protection contributes to community well-being, economic development and security.
“It is important to maintain the trees we have planted. If they grow well, they will help prevent soil erosion and landslides that could destroy people’s homes or wash away their crops, undermining their development. This is also a way of caring for and protecting the environment, given its importance to us,” he said.
He urged residents living near the planted trees to help maintain them.
Maniriho Damien, an official responsible for tree planting and maintenance at the Rwanda Forestry Authority, said planting trees must be followed by proper maintenance.
“When you plant trees, you must monitor their growth. The community work we are conducting includes removing Umuhengeri, which competes with planted trees for nutrients, causing them to grow poorly. If you plant a forest and fail to maintain it by removing this species, your efforts will be in vain,” he said.
He added that dried trees should be replaced and the soil around growing trees hoed within a 50-centimetre radius to support their growth.
RNP continues to monitor trees it planted on a hillside in Gashure and Gatare villages, Cyaruzinge Cell, Ndera Sector, where soil erosion had been damaging crops and land.
