Schools get titles to ward off grabbers

By Felix wanderi

Schools in Thika constituency are set to be issued with title deeds to ward off land grabbers.

Thika MP Patrick Wainaina said that surveying of 50 percent of Thika schools’ land has been done and the exercise is ongoing to establish the actual acreage of the land.

He said that the move to have the schools issued with title deeds was informed by the rampant encroachment and grabbing of land parcels belonging to public schools by unscrupulous and well-connected individuals.

The MP noted that land grabbing cases in Thika constituency have reached alarming levels with public utilities including parcels set aside for schools, hospitals, social halls, recreational facilities and land belonging to squatters being targets for the notorious grabbers.

“I have reached out to the Ministry of Lands and Cabinet Secretary Faridah Karoney has agreed to have our schools issued with title deeds so as to protect their lands from being grabbed,” he said.

In 2019, the lawmaker and his office thwarted attempts to grab a five-acre piece of land belonging to Kiboko Primary School in Thika town and a 22-acre parcel belonging to Mbagathi Secondary School in Kilimambogo, Thika East.

Some unknown individuals who had allegedly acquired the land through crooked means had already subdivided and planted beacons on the schools’ land and were planning to develop the parcels.

He noted that lack of title deeds has exposed many public institutions to land grabbing by the corrupt individuals.

” We cannot let the grabbers take the only land our schools can use for expansion,” Wainaina said.

Wainaina said that the corrupt individuals, known to be with deep pockets, have already lodged legal suits against him laying claim on parcels belonging to schools.

The lawmaker also sent a stern warning to land officials who have been abetting land grabbing in the region saying that they will be personally held accountable for the illegalities.

Ruiru MP Simon King’ara has also tabled a Bill in Parliament seeking to have all public institutions across the country issued with title deeds.