Nairobi, 9^th March 2018:  The Cabinet Secretary for Lands and Physical Planning has called upon stakeholders in the titling of public schools to fast track the programme on titling all public schools.

Speaking when the CS hosted the National Working Group on Tilting of Public Schools, the CS noted that the number of schools titled which currently stands below 1,900 is too low and was hindering their development. She challenged the working group, the surveyors, the National Land Commission and the Ministry to target the titling of 10,000 schools this year, noting that any school without contestation or legal issues should be titled.

The ShuleYangu Alliance team reported that from the 2016 survey, 83% of the public schools did not have titles, 55% had not been surveyed 41% were at risk of encroachment and grabbing while 14% had reported land grabbing/contestation cases. “Through our work, 1,883 titles have been processed and issued to public schools to date, 1,315 schools audited and head teachers sensitized in the three counties of Uasin Gishu, Mombasa and Kwale,” noted the Campaigns Manager Ms Florence Annan.

The team appraised the meeting, which was also attended by the Principal Secretary Dr. Nicholas Muraguri and the Cabinet Administrative Secretary Hon. Gideon Mung’aro, on the progress made through other government agencies. This includes the establishment of Public Land Protection Desks in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, the establishment on an Inter-Ministerial Legal Working Group and collaborations with Teachers Associations, including KEPSHA AND KESHA in the sensitization on tilting and protection of schools.

On her part, the Cabinet Secretary pledged support for the programme observing that it was an important goal for the Ministry and should be accelerated.  She called upon the Principal Secretary to ensure that the bottlenecks slowing down the titling of schools are addressed including those facing schools in settlement schemes.

In his remarks, the Executive Director, Transparency International who also heads the Shule Yangu Secretariat called upon the Cabinet Secretary to issue a circular to enable the implementation of the 2017 Cabinet Waiver on registration fees including discharge fees for public schools under the Settlement Scheme. “The absence of a circular to reinforce this directive is delaying its implementation”, noted Mr. Kimeu.  Ms Karoney promised to look into the issue and also granted the other requests to include County Land Registrars into the County working groups and also incorporate public schools into the Ministry’s Rapid Response Initiative on Survey and Titling.

The National Working Group on Titling of Public Schools is a Ministry of Lands Initiative and brings together the Ministry of Lands and Physical Planning, Ministry of Education, The National Land Commission, the Institution of Surveyors of Kenya and the ShuleYangu Alliance, representing the Civil Society.  The objective of the meeting was to appraise the CS on the progress made on the Presidential Directive of 2015 to title all public schools.

Download the full press release here