Pupils were caught up in the melee on Monday when police lobbed teargas on protesters. Photo/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 21 – The Lands Ministry now says it will issue the Lang’ata Road Primary School with a Title Deed in a week’s time.
Director of Surveys Cesaare Mbaria said on Wednesday that they were retrieving a Title Deed for the school which has been at the centre of controversy over land grabbing.
“I am here today with my surveyors to ensure that, we re-establish the boundary of this property,” he stated. “We shall put the property beacons to ensure that once we put the wall, it’s on the correct place,” he stated.
Addressing journalists at the site, Mbaria said the Ministry of Lands will also help in putting up boundary beacons to curb future grabbing.
The National Youth Service was deployed to Lang’ata Road Primary school on Wednesday morning to demolish the perimeter wall erected by a developer who was claiming ownership of the school’s playground.
The youths were sent there at 5am with machinery to clear the site after the developer failed to show up as directed by Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery.
An official at the Office of the President said the NYS would also level the playing field and put up a fence around the school to curb grabbing in future.
The exercise caused a massive traffic snarl-up on the busy Lang’ata Road, with police advising motorists to use alternative routes to ease congestion.
Nkaissery had on Tuesday directed the private developer, Airport View Housing Limited to remove all his building materials failure to which the government will take the initiative.
The move follows violent demonstrations at the school on Monday when police lobbed teargas at pupils who had joined protesters, sparking outrage.
On Tuesday, President Uhuru Kenyatta hit out at officials in the Ministry of Lands, the National Land Commission and the police following a teargas assault on pupils at the Lang’ata Road Primary School over a disputed piece of land.
READ: Uhuru blasts officials over teargas assault on pupils
Also in the firing line was the headmaster of the school for allowing the pupils to participate in the protest and demolish a perimeter wall around the contentious plot of land.
“The headmaster should also answer a couple of questions. How do you allow your students to go and demolish walls… what if that wall fell on those children?” President Kenyatta posed.
He made it clear that government officials must take responsibility for their actions.
“It is deplorable the manner in which the police handled those young children and indeed action will be taken against the officers responsible. But what is more disappointing to me is the fact that we even had to get to that level. Where the Ministry of Lands… was where was the National Land Commission? Why did they not resolve this problem; what were they doing?” he posed.
The head teacher was on Wednesday seen with Teachers Service Commission officials.
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