The demolished gate at Lavington Primary school 22-12-2015. [PHOTO/the-star.co.ke]
The National Land Commission (NLC) has revoked title deeds of 32 schools which were held by private developers.
Through a gazette notice, NLC chairman Muhammad Swazuri revoked about 1,100 titles deeds safeguarding 32 government schools and institutions whose land was grabbed.
According to the Star, Nairobi's Lavington Primary whose land had been taken by the Kensom Holdings was among those benefiting from the revocation.
"Revoked title held by Kensom Holdings Ltd and allocate to CS Treasury to hold in trust for Lavington Primary School," read part of the decision from the commission.
Land acquired by government in 1986 for public use had been taken by Revival Gospel Centre but the church's title deed was also revoked and given to Riruta Satellite School.
The commission also revoked the title of Abdulahi Sheikh, who laid claim to St Michael Primary School, and handed the title back to the school.
Two pieces of land earlier allocated to a James Mwathi were handed back to Eastleigh Secondary School while Muranga's Giachuki Secondary school got back its land among other beneficiaries in the country.
According to a 2015 research conducted by ShuleYangu Alliance, of the 29,404 public schools, 86 per cent (24,405) had no lease certificates while 55 per cent (16,172 schools) were not surveyed.
Some 41 per cent (12,055 schools) stood at risk of grabbing and encroachment.
"Further to this a total of 4,100 cases of public school land grabbing and contestation had been reported to the National Lands Commission by September 2016. An indication of the great vulnerability of public school land, and the land grabbers’ brazenness appetite for land. An analysis of 15 schools at risk indicated that out of the total of 105 acres grabbed from the schools resulted to a loss of seven hundred and fifty million Kenya Shillings (Sh750,000,000 / USD 7,500,000)," said Irungu Houghton, leader of the initiative.