Over 200 parents of a city primary school with a population of over 1,500 students have escalated the case for change of ownership of the learning institution from a public entity to a private entity to the Court of Appeal.
The aggrieved parents of Gatoto Comprehensive Primary School in the sprawling Mukuru Kwa Reuben slams teaming up with Embakasi South Member of Parliament Julius Musili Mawathe, are urging the Court of Appeal to stay an order requiring the current Board of Management (BoM) to hand over the public school to five individuals on July 2, 2026.
The second highest court in the land is being urged by lawyers Danstan Omari and Martina Swiga for the parents to consider and uphold the rights of the 1,500 pupils to education whose parents cannot afford to pay fees charged by private schools.
“Parents of these children from the vast Mukuru Kwa Reuben slams cannot afford to pay fees charged by private schools,” Mr Omari states in the certificate of urgency filed under Order 53 of the Court of Appeal rules.
The court is being called upon to intervene then stay the change-over orders announced by the high court on June 25, 2026, otherwise the education of the children will be doomed.
“Unless this court intervenes and stays the orders of the superior court the intended appeal shall be rendered nugatory and the educational rights of the enrolled students shall be doomed as their parents from poor backgrounds won’t afford fees charged by private schools,” Ms Swiga states in the court filings.
The lawyers affirm that they have an arguable appeal which has high chances of success.
The parents through the BoM are urging the appeal court to grant their plea claiming the judge erred in law by granting orders which has serious legal implications on the Mukuru Kwa Reuben Community.
In the decision rendered by the High Court on June 25, 2026, Justice Gregory Mutai directed the BoM to hand over Gatoto Primary School to private individuals who claim to be the new owners alleging to be the registered owners of the land on which the school stands.
They claim their school is a non-profit making institution.
In the ruling, that has caused tension at the school, the trial judge ordered the current management of the public school to hand it over to five petitioners who claim to be the registered owners of the land on which the school is built.
Parents claim in the court filings that they built the school in 1984 and it has been a public institution for the last 42 years and cannot mutate to a private entity overnight.
The judge directed the BoM of Gatoto Primary School which is government-funded with 35 teachers posted by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) and six (6) ECD teachers remunerated by the government to be handed over to the new owners.
“That the Principal Secretary Department of Basic Education and the County Education Board are hereby directed to register Gatoto Community Primary School as a private Non- Profit Based-APBET Primary School within the meaning of the Basic Education Act under the ownership and management of the First (1st) Petitioner in line with the Certificate of the Registration under registration No. 6/PE/234/2008 within 4 working days of the date hereof,” Justice Mutai ordered on June 25, 2026.
He also directed the ownership and management of the Gatoto Community Based Primary School be restored to the petitioners by July 2, 2026.
The judge ordered the OCPD Makadara to ensure that there is security with at-least 3 police officers present during the hand over exercise.
The judge directed the petitioners to cater for payment of the security personnel to ensure smooth handover of the school.
“That the requisite payment for security shall be made by the petitioners to the OCPD Makadara,” Justice Mutai directed.
The judge has listed the case to be mentioned at site of Gatoto Primary School on July 3, 2026 at 11.00 am.
Besides the petitioners, the judge had also summoned Mr Benson Mbai, Mr Eric Mulevu, Mr Reuben Kipturgo and Mr Mark Kimeu ( interested parties) to attend the session at the school as well as the OCPD Makadara.
The judge warned that any disobedience or non-observance of the court orders herewith would result in penal consequences.
In the ownership dispute the Board of Directors (Gatoto Primary School) and the BoM Gatoto Primary School, Gatoto Community Primary School (non-profit community based APBET Primary School have sued Peter Wabwoba Makali (assistant county commissioner) and Mary Kimeu- the sub-county education officers Embakasi and five (5) others.
The parents allege that their school has been grabbed by a former student who is hardly 30 years old and the public school has been in existence since 1984.
A founder member of the school, Mzee Shadrack Macharia, 80, discloses in evidence that he and several other elderly senior citizens, donated the land on which Gatoto Primary School is built.
“We used to cultivate on this land on which the school is built but we surrendered it to the government to put up a school to cater for the education of our children. One of the former beneficiaries and a student of the school is now claiming to own it privately,” Mzee Macharia discloses in court filings.
Mr Mawathe says evidence tendered in court shows clearly the school enjoys funding from the NG-CDF kitty and that it is registered with the Ministry of Education as a Public School enjoying government patronage.
The Court of Appeal is yet to pronounce itself on the issue of stay of the orders as prayed for by the parents.