NAIROBI, Kenya, May 13 – The City Council of Nairobi says it will allocate funds in the next budget for the renovation of public schools under its management.
Nairobi Town Clerk Philip Kisia made the pledge on Thursday after touring schools in Roysambu Ward, most of which were congested with students in dilapidated classrooms.
"We as a Council are going to be putting a lot of effort in upgrading our facilities. For the next one-and-a-half years we will be putting a lot of emphasis on education," he said.
City Hall spends millions of shillings running over 220 public schools that each accommodate an average of 1,200 students, according Mr Kisia.
Two of the evaluated schools, in Kasarani, reported claims of grabbed land, with one losing seven acres designated for a playground.
Mr Kisia strongly warned against the illegal acquisition of land purposed for public utilities, and urged the Ministry of Lands to continue to revoke fraudulent titles.
"Those who have an appetite of grabbing public utilities, in particular schools, health centres and road reserves, I think their time is gone. They must surrender those parcels of land willingly, if they don\’t the only option we have is revoke them as a Council," he said.
The City Council will begin renovation projects on the Kasarani schools as soon as next month including fixing classrooms, painting and building new classroom blocks.
Mr Kisia also mentioned City Council\’s plans to spend close to 20 percent of collections on capital projects in the next budget.
"By end of this year all the 15 slums will be 100 percent lit so they will be secure and be able to do business. We will have named all of our streets in Nairobi by the end of the year and lit 70 percent of the streets in Nairobi by the end of the financial year."
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