Institutions on Mau land to miss titles

[Article source: The Standard, story by Caroline Chebet @corriecarol]

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

According to Nakuru County Director of Education Isaac Atebe, the County is 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.

 

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. These include schools in Bomet, which are within the forest land, which will be skipped since it is an agency-to-agency dispute, and several schools in Kericho County.

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.

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 Kenya 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.