Gatoto Primary School Crisis: 200 Parents Rush to Appeal Court Over Private Takeover

Over 200 parents of a city primary school have rushed  to the court of appeal to challenge the decision of the High Court changing its ownership from the public to a private entity.

The aggrieved parents of Gatoto Primary School in Mukuru kwa Reuben slums, 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.

Represented by lawyers Danstan Omari and Martina Swiga, the parents are urging the court to consider and uphold the rights of the 1,500 pupils who cannot afford the fees charged by private schools.

“Parents of these children from the vast Mukuru kwa Reuben slums cannot afford to pay fees charged by private schools,”Omari said.

The application filed under certificate of urgency seeks the Court of Appeal to intervene and 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,”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 an order 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 board of management (BoM) to hand over Gatoto Primary School to private individuals who claim to be the new owners, claiming to possess the land on which the school stands.

They claim their school is a non-profit 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 as a public institution that has existed for the last 42 years, and cannot mutate into a private entity.

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 that 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 handover exercise.

Justice Mutai directed the petitioners to cater for the payment of the security personnel to ensure a 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 the site of Gatoto Primary School on July 3, 2026, at 11.00 am.

He warned that any disobedience or non-observance of the court orders will result in penal consequences.

In the ownership dispute, the Board of Directors and the BoM of the school have sued Peter Wabwoba Makali (assistant county commissioner) and Mary Kimeu, the sub-county education officers of Embakasi and five others.

The parents allege that the school has been taken over by a former student who is hardly 30 years old, and the school has existed since 1984.

Mzee Shadrack Macharia, 80-year-old founder member of the school, discloses in his evidence that he and several other senior citizens donated the land on which it 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.

Mawathe says evidence tendered in court shows that the school has been funded from the 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.