Okoth decries land grabbing in Kibra
Kibra lawmaker Imran Okoth has asked the national government to solve the perennial land grabbing in his consistency, adding the theft is hampering the expansion of learning facilities in the area.
The first-time lawmaker adds the grabbing and unavailability of space have forced him to build primary and secondary schools within the same compound.
He said there is a need for an urgent plan by the national government within informal settlements so as to boost education in the area by giving land for the construction of schools.
“Land is a problem here as the expansion of schools cannot take place with land set aside for the same having been grabbed. All the schools in Kibra are mostly being built within the existing primary schools due to this problem,” said Okoth.
He spoke after unveiling a state-of-the-art Sh87.6 million-day secondary school to serve students unable to afford boarding education.
Kibera Day Secondary School, a project fully-funded the constituency’s National Government-Constituency Development Fund (NG-CDF), will serve learners from poor backgrounds whose parents can barely afford fees in boarding schools.
The school, whose foundation was laid by deceased former area MP late Ken Okoth years has several administration offices, 12 modern classrooms, 24 ablution blocks, three laboratories, and a kitchen.
Okoth, the current MP said the school is able to hold close to 1,000 leaners although it current has only 402 students.
He explained the construction of the new school was inspired by the need to provide a school for learners coming from a poor background where parents cannot afford boarding school and the need for a proper day school within the vicinity of Kibra was so much important
This as he called on the national government to increase the number of teachers in the area, decrying the low students to teachers ratio in the constituency.
“Most of our schools have learners but the ratio between teachers and learners is a problem. Even in this school we have opened, only the principal, the deputy, and a few teachers are employed by the teachers service commission (TSC) while the rest are under BOM. The number of teachers vis a vis students is a problem,” he said.
Kibera Boys Day Secondary school is now the second school built from scratch in Kibra following the completion of the Sh48.2 million Mbagathi Girls High School in February, 2018.
The ODM legislator added that at the end of the month, he will commission the construction of a new boys’ secondary school at Jamhuri Primary School that should be complete in the next 15 months with the project to be fully-funded by the constituency’s CDF