Safeguard all public land

Debate in the last few days has been dominated by events at the Lang’ata Road Primary School in Nairobi where police were accused of high-handedness. But the broader picture was the persistent land question. 

In this instance, the school is in dispute with a private developer over the ownership of the land. We leave the specific matter to the courts and the relevant government authorities. 

However, there are concerns that many schools risk losing their land.

Furthermore, the cartels that were a thing of the past appear to have returned in full force. 

Land issues remain emotive and if left unaddressed could plunge the country into untold anarchy.

The Lang’ata Road School saga provides the government with a perfect opportunity to take more robust steps to resolve land matters.

The National Land Commission, the Ministry of Land, the police and the county governments should all pay close attention to issues in this sensitive sector.

One of the programmes the government has been talking about is the digitalisation of the Land Registry to eliminate the need for paperwork that has been blamed for facilitating rampant land grabbing.

This should be done as a matter of urgency. But most importantly, the government should hasten to grant all public schools and other institutions proper title deeds.