Institutions on Mau land to miss titles

National Lands Commision officials verifying some of the documents from school headteachers at Nakuru high school in Nakuru County on 18/9/2018. [Photo: Caroline Chebet]

Some schools in four counties that are on land under caveat and those owned by multi-nationals will not get titles, Government officials have said.

Officials from the National Lands Commission and the Ministry of Education say schools in four sub-counties in Nakuru that are sitting on land under caveat and those owned by multi-national companies in Kericho, that are on forest land, will miss out on the crucial documents.

Others that will be left out under the National Titling Programme targeting public institutions, are schools within forest land in Narok County.

“We are doing the audit to ascertain the number of schools that will not be issued with titles as a result of these challenges. In Nakuru County, some schools in Njoro, Molo, Kuresoi North and Kuresoi South will not access the titles because they are built within land currently under caveat,” Nakuru County Director of Education Isaac Atebe said.

Kericho County National Land Commission coordinator Simon Ting’aa said the titling programme would skip several schools in Kericho owned by multi-national agencies but still sit on their land.

“Several schools in Bomet, which are within the forest land, will also be skipped since it is an agency-to-agency dispute. Several schools will also be affected in Kericho County,” Mr Ting’aa said.

Nakuru County National Land Commission coordinator Frank Kibelekenya said 70 per cent of schools in Kuresoi North and South would be affected.

Other schools in Sururu and Mauche, Njoro and Molo sub-counties will also be affected.

“These schools will not benefit in the programme because no transaction is allowed in parcels of land under caveat,” he said

The programme, which kicked off in 2015, aims at issuing titles to public utilities, especially schools, to curb cases of land grabbing.

Officials, however, said some of the cases would have to be dealt with by multi-agencies, including Kanya Forest Service, NLC and the ministry.

A meeting to collect and verify data on schools within Nakuru and Kericho counties saw more than 2,000 school heads meet in Nakuru.

In Nakuru County, the programme will ensure the issuance of 100,000 titles