Planted in hope, uprooted in progress

Trees from the Greening Lusaka campaign cleared to make way for the expansion of Great East Road, raising questions about urban planning and the true cost of development.

In a candid admission, environmental advocate David Ngwenyama has apologised to supporters of the Greening Lusaka campaign after a tree-planting site along Great East Road was cleared for construction.

Hello

During the 2024/2025 growing season I came on various platforms and made personal appeals to individuals and organizations to participate in the Greening Lusaka campaign.

A lot of you participated in the various Lusaka for Trees activities that took place at the time and generously donated, trees, personal and instructional time, and financial support to what I personally made you believe was a commitment to greening Lusaka. I come before you today to apologize for the failure to keep the promise and commitment to greening Lusaka.

The area that we planted, the Great East Road island, has been bulldozed and turned into a construction site parking lot with the full support of the Lusaka City Council.

This failure is entirely my fault for not securing guaranteed site protection before planting and for believing that the Lusaka City Mayor’s participation in the tree planting constituted a commitment by the City of Lusaka. I apologize for bringing you, your organization and associates’ reputation into disrepute.