Primary school heads have asked the Government to intervene in the search for title deeds for their institutions. The Kenya Primary School Heads Association (Kepsha) officials said yesterday that efforts to get title deeds for school lands had been frustrated by Lands ministry officials.
The association’s national chairman, Shem Ndolo, and secretary general, David Mavuta, asked the Ministry of Education to pursue the titles, saying the task had become a burden to school heads.
The officials spoke yesterday during the 14th Kepsha annual delegates conference at the Sheikh Zayed Children’s Centre in Mombasa. President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to officially open the conference today. “School heads are not supposed to look for title deeds. We have been frustrated and are asking the Government to intervene and assist us,” Mr Ndolo said. The head teachers said many of them had hit a dead end in the pursuit for title deeds.
“The process has proved very difficult for us,” Mr Mavuta said. The association represents more than 22,000 members. President Kenyatta recently ordered that all public schools be issued with title deeds for the land they sit on. Early this year, the National Land Commission (NLC) chairman, Muhammad Swazuri, said land ownership disputes had slowed down issuance of title deeds.
Prof Swazuri said the commission had only managed to issue 4,000 public schools with title deeds out of more than 24,000 by January this year. He explained that the delay was caused by numerous disputes as some parcels of land belonged to individuals or organisations that sponsored the schools and which they were unwilling to let go of. “We have encountered a lot of difficulties. There are instances where school land was donated by families and they have refused to have the institutions issued with title deeds,” Swazuri explained.
Courtesy of The Standard