Nairobi senator Mike Sonko leaving Milimani law courts after high court halted a private developer from carrying out construction at a disputed site which had originally been earmarked for the expansion of a public school.
BY SAM ALFAN.
A Nairobi court has halted a private developer from carrying out construction at a disputed site which had originally been earmarked for the expansion of a public school.
The court issued injunction against Kensom Holdings company limited following a public outcry and a suit lodged under a certificate of urgency by Nairobi senator Mike Sonko.
The senator states that the board of governors of Lavington Primary school “is the allotee and occupier of LR Number 3734/596 and 3734/799 in which a public school is constructed.”
Sonko claims that Kensom was unlawfully allocated the dispute property through a lease registered by the Nairobi county government and that excavation is already underway on the playground.
“The plaintiff having been established as a community public school and had been allocated the public property has a good title over the land,” Sonko’s lawyer Martin Kuruga told the court.
He said the school stands to suffer irreparable loss if the defendant is not restrained from grabbing the property.
The school’s principal Ms Agnes Ndolo has annexed an affidavit stating that the two land parcels had been earmarked for the construction of classrooms and school playground for its 1600 pupils.
“On December 19 the defendant stormed the school, destroyed the school gate and fence and commenced excavations,” the affidavit reads.
She states that a demonstration followed in which the “trespassers” were forced to retreat but have now regrouped and “continues with night excavation.”
The principal in her sworn affidavit stated that the land had been grabbed from the school and illegally leased to Kensom.
“Normal learning has been disrupted and we seek restraining orders,” the affidavit reads.
The county holds the suit property in trust of the public and “has no power to neither transfer it to a private entity nor alienate it into private ownership, the court was told.
Magistrate Linus Kassan has ordered the OCS Muthangari police station to ensure compliance with the orders pending the hearing and determination f the case.
