A land grabber who attempted to hive off 2.5 acres of Lavington Primary school in 2015 is back.
On the eve of Christmas in 2015, the land grabbers going by the name Kenson Holding Company limited demolished the schools gate and attempted to fence off the land.
Their efforts were in vain since the then Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko dashed to court and obtained a court order.
The grabbers are back and on Wednesday, they attempted to hive off the 2.5 acres.
Governor Mike Sonko visited the school yesterday in the company of Dagoreti North MP Simba Arati and they thwarted the grabber’s efforts to hive off the land.
“I have just reached home and I have perused through my files. I have found out that in 2016 when I was a Senator, I filed a case against the same grabbers. The court ruled in favor of the school and the said grabbers never appealed on the case only to resurface again a couple of days ago,” Sonko said.
On 23rd December 2015, Kensom Holdings whose directors are listed as Mohamud Mohamed Mohamud and Abdirahaman Abdala Affi both of Kericho claimed ownership of the land.
The attempts to grab the land evoked memories of the infamous Langata Primary School grab in 2014.
The Langata grab on Christmas holiday caused a nationwide furor and the developer was forced to give back the stolen land.
In December 2015, National Land Commission (NLC) Chair Muhammad Swazuri visited Lavington Primary School and said the NLC will revoke any title deed obtained illegally.
“Private developers think everybody is out of town and gone for Christmas. They think the whole government is asleep. We will not allow that,” Swazuri said then.
The private developers had in December 2015 brought down one of the gates at Lavington Primary School.
“He came on Saturday when schools have closed. I was called and told the gate has been demolished and a bulldozer was on site excavating,” said headmistress Agnes Ndolo then.
Ndolo said then she had been a headmistress for six years and no one had ever claimed to own part of the 16 acres occupied by the Lavington Secondary and Primary schools.
“All work without play makes Jack a dull boy. The developers should know we need the land and it’s ours – not theirs,” she said.
During the Langata road primary school land grab demonstrations, police used teargas to dispel pupils and the public.
A day later after the Lavington primary school gate had been brought down, a group calling itself, the Lavington Muslim Community claimed they own part of the Lavington Primary School land.
Sheikh Yusuf Mohamed told the media then that the Muslim Association acquired L.R number 3734/596 with original number 3734/3/153 from City Hall in 2007.
He said the Association was to put a mosque, madrassa and a girls’ school on the two-and-a-half acres property and had submitted the building plans for approval to City Hall.
Currently, Lavington Primary school sits on a 16-acre piece of land.
“We are the true owners of the land. The defunct City Council of Nairobi transferred the land to Kenson Holdings at a fee of Sh5 million,”
“The provisional certificate of title was issued to us through gazette notice number 13137 dated September 21st 2012.” Mohamed said then.
However, he did not say why they destroyed the school gate and a section of the fence, but said it was “a coincidence” their construction plans corresponded with the school and Christmas holiday.
However, the integrity and transparency of the group calling itself the Lavington Muslim community and Kensom Holdings is in question since they have never appealed against a court order that was obtained by then Nairobi Senator Mike Sonko who is now governor.