20,000 public schools fail to get title deeds despite President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive

Kenya Primary School Headteachers Association (KEPSHA) outgoing chairman Joseph Karuga (left) peruses a document with the incoming chairman Shem Ndolo (right) during the opening of the 11th annual Kenya Primary School Headteachers Association (KEPSHA) which started Monday in Mombasa County and ends on Friday, August 03, 2015. [PHOTO: GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

MOMBASA: More than 20,000 public primary schools are yet to secure title deeds, the National Lands Commission (NLC) has announced.

Speaking in Mombasa during the annual primary head teachers’ conference Monday, NLC Chairman Muhammad Swazuri said only 4,000 out of the 30,000 public schools have title deeds, sparking fears of encroachment by developers.

“Only 4,000 have acquired the deeds following a directive by President Kenyatta last year,” said Dr Swazuri.

Early this year, the President directed the Ministry of Lands to issue title deeds to all learning institutions.

The President directed that school land ownership documents be processed and registered in the names of school committees and management boards.

The directive came in the wake of an attempted plot to grab a piece of land belonging to Langata Road Primary School in Nairobi.

Monday, Swazuri warned that institutions without proper documentation are threatened with encroachment.

Swazuri said even after the deadline for registration was moved from March to June, only a few schools heeded. He expressed shock at the slow pace of schools’ land registration and announced the deadline has been extended up to end of this month. The NLC chair said only 4,000 schools had applied for title deeds by close of June this year.

He also announced that the commission had received about 6,000 complaints on boundary issues.

“We would like to urge head teachers to respond to the request so that the issuance of title deeds could be fast-tracked to avoid grabbing of school land,” said Swazuri.

He said any school land that has been grabbed would be repossessed but noted that court cases would also be allowed to proceed on contentious pieces.

 REPOSSESS LAND

“If the land has been stolen, we shall repossess it even if the matter is in court. But when the land is in court because of succession issues and boundaries battles, then we shall allow the court to hear and determine the matter,” said Swazuri.

He said failure by schools to secure titles could lead to encroachment. “Our study has revealed that each school has an average of about five to seven acres. Some schools have more. But this means more than 150,000 acres of land would be facing encroachment if titles are not secured in time,” said Swazuri.

Head teachers complained that the long and winding process of land registration and the  hefty sums of money involved have made it impossible for most schools to get titles.

“We cannot move around to land offices. Head teachers need to do school work and ensure smooth running of schools and going to those offices is cumbersome. That is why we are requesting the commission to send its official to the schools so that they can do the paperwork, hence making the process easy,” said one of the teachers.

The heads requested Swazuri to send land officials to schools to make it easier for them to do the paper work. “...going to the land offices is a waste of precious time meant to do school work,” said another head teacher.

Swazuri said talks are underway to make registration of school land cheaper. He also announced the process of land registration will be made easier to facilitate quick acquisition of titles.

“We are talking to the Institute of Surveyors so that they can minimise the surveying fees. We want to ensure the fees chargeable are lower than market rates,” he said.

He said the commission is also talking to county governments to facilitate easy registration of school land.

“Surveying and planning are now devolved functions and that means that we must talk to the various stakeholders to ensure school land is secure,” he said.

He warned the deadline for registration would not be extended again.