St Michael's primary faces eviction over 10.6-acre land dispute in Bomet

A public primary school in Bomet County is staring at an eviction from a 10.6-acre disputed land.

St Michael’s Primary School, with over 500 learners’ fate is at the mercy of guarantors.

Early this month, the Environment and Lands Court in Kericho ordered the school to provide a bank guarantee of Sh2 million from a reputable bank within thirty days, failure to which the suspension of eviction will be suspended.

Justice Omollo Lynette issued the orders following an application by the Board of Management, St Michael's Primary School, Bomet. In the application, the school sought to stay execution of judgement delivered on September 26, 2024 pending the hearing and determination of the intended appeal.

St Michael’s Primary has been fighting over the land with Bomet Technical Institute Limited. In September 2024, the Environment and Lands Court Judge Mary Oundo ruled that the private technical institute was the legal owner of the land.

The court then ordered the school to vacate the land within 45 days.

The court issued a permanent injunction, restraining the school and its board of directors from continued occupation of the land. Further, the court ordered the school and its management to pay the institute Sh2 million in general damages and compensation for its wrongful entry into the land.

The court ruled that the private institute proved that it legally leased the land from the government and obtained an allotment letter dated January 17, 1997.

The institute, through its lawyer Peter Okiro, submitted that in 1995, it applied for the allocation of the land and in 1997, it received a letter of allotment from the Commissioner of Lands.

Okiro submitted that a Certificate of Lease for 99 years with effect from January 1, 1997, was subsequently issued to the institute, which was then trading as LOMU Investments.

“Construction materials were put on the land for the development of the institute, and the process of seeking approval was done,” averred Okiro.

However, he said that sometime in June 2012, the primary school put a fence alongside the institute’s fence and thereafter, started a foundation for a new school.

Okiro noted that despite there being an injunction, the primary school management went ahead to destroy the old school, adjacent to the land, before invading it.

The court noted that the primary school only provided an allotment letter dated April 2, 2012, as a document of ownership.

According to the court, the primary school illegally invaded the land in 2012, despite knowing the institute was the owner and had also deposited some building materials to expand its business.

The court determined that the primary school did not provide any Gazette Notice to prove the land was due for compulsory acquisition by the government or any other body.

The school applied on October 9, 2024, seeking a stay of the orders of the court.

Alice Marinday, the head teacher and secretary to the Board of Management St Michaels Primary School Bomet in an affidavit said they had filed a Notice of Appeal and requested for certified copies of proceedings.

She urged the Court to allow the school to allow it exercise its right to appeal.