Court suspends Form One admission in Nyeri County

By Murimi Mwangi and Mohammed Doyo

Nyeri, Kenya: The High Court has stopped the Form One admission process in Nyeri County.

Justice James Wakiaga Wednesday suspended the admission of 1,831 Form Ones to 10 extra-county schools in Nyeri, pending the hearing of a suit challenging the selection process.

Justice Wakiaga sitting in Nyeri issued an order restraining the schools from admitting any students until the Friday, Feb 7 when the case will be heard.

The affected schools are Nyeri Boys, Chinga Boys, Chinga Girls, Kangumbiri girls, South Tetu Girls, Karima Boys, Tumutumu Girls, Othaya Boys, Othaya Girls and Narumoro Girls High schools.

Justice Wakiaga issued the order during a pre-trial hearing of a suit in which the Nyeri County government has sued Education Cabinet Secretary Prof Jacob Kaimenyi and his principal secretary Dr Richard Belio Kipsang.

Flawed selection

Through lawyer Wahome Gikonyo, the government led by Governor Nderitu Gachagua is accusing the two officials of abetting a flawed selection of form ones to the respective schools.

The government says that the county was legally entitled to 60 percent of form one slots in the extra-county schools but got less than that across the ten schools.

In the petition, the county government claims to have given 1,570 admissions in the said schools to “outsiders” but only 320 of Nyeri students were admitted outside the county.

Today, Lawyer Alex Muthuri told the court that he was contacted by the ministry to represent the CS and PS in the suit.

“I was contacted this morning to take up this matter, but I need time to read the file,” said Mr Muthuri.

In the suit, the county government claims that Nyeri got a raw deal as students from outside the county got the lion share of the form one slots in the extra-county schools.

According to the county government, the admission of two students with 211 and 219 marks to South Tetu girls and Nyeri High Schools respectively is an indication that the selection process lacked merit.

The admissions are an injustice and an eyesore to the people of Nyeri County who provided land and contributed money through harambees to build these schools,” said Mr Wahome while filing the suit on Tuesday.

The affected schools are to be served with the orders restraining them from admitting any students.

The ruling was one of the wishes by the county government which also wants the entire selection process nullified and done afresh.