Beatrice Elachi, a Dagoretti North representative, has requested that the National Government provide land titles for Nairobi's public schools, saying that doing so will stop land grabbing.
Elachi expressed her worries over a plot of property belonging to Lavington Secondary School that she claimed had been taken during a press conference on Wednesday.
A building has already been developed there by an unidentified developer
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For schools in Nairobi to know their boundaries and how to prepare for the school, the government should provide them with their title deeds.
Since the majority of the schools in my area are National Schools, this is the only girl's school I currently have that can accept students from Kawangware, Elachi remarked.
"I would sincerely beg the government; let's collaborate and see how we can protect school property from land speculators."
The lawmaker vowed to take action against land speculators in her district, claiming that they deprive schools and students of resources, including playground space.
"We will battle these new developers because it is inconceivable that someone would walk into a school like this one and decide to build a fence along the route where students passed through last term.
We're going to struggle against this. If you are aware that you are a part of the Lavington Primary or Secondary, the best thing you can do for the remainder is to work closely with the school since you have a title, but the primary designation is still pending..,"
Elachi spoke shortly after issuing bursary forms to her constituents.
Cases of public school land grabbing are very common in Nairobi County. Some issues, such as that of Langata Primary, are one of the most documented, as some senior government official names are among the case.
According to a recent Kenya Land Alliance (KLA) report, 70% of public school properties are at risk of being taken.
In Kenya, 32,354 public schools were operating as of November 2019, and 70% lacked title deeds.
A Handbook for Public Schools Land Defenders, published by the Shule Yangu Alliance Campaign 2020, further revealed that more than 4,100 public schools had officially reported being in danger of being taken because they lacked ownership documentation.
It indicates that there are 22,648 schools nationwide without title deeds.
The government implemented processes in 2018 to make it easier for schools to acquire title deeds, although the evil of snatching seems to exist still.
