In a classic tale of David versus Goliath, the Kirimancuma Primary and Junior School in Meru County is fighting not just for its survival but for the sanctity of the rule of law.
Despite a landmark court victory in April 2025, the institution is once again under siege from powerful state actors, private entities, and a local administration intent on carving up its ancestral land.
On April 23rd, 2025, Justice Oguttu Mboya of the Environment and Land Court in Meru delivered a damning verdict.
In a judgment that would resonate across the entire region, the Judge declared that the subdivision, transfer, and dealing with land parcel LR. NO TIGANIA/KIRIMANCHUMA/6, measuring 10.374 acres, was not just illegal but a constitutional violation.
The court ruled that the land, registered in the name of the Meru County Council but specifically reserved for Kirimancuma Primary School, had been subjected to an illegal and unconstitutional subdivision resulting in the creation of titles 235, 236, 237, and 238.
“An illegality is an illegality. A nullity is a nullity,” Justice Mboya ruled, ordering the immediate cancellation of the resultant illegal title deeds and imposing a permanent injunction against any further dealing with the land.
Yet, despite this unequivocal legal directive, the shadows of the land grab have returned in 2026, executed not by bandits, but by government officials acting under the false guise of “court direction.”
Immediate Violation
The judgment in Petition No. E010 of 2024 was meticulously detailed.
Justice Mboya found that the suit property was alienated public land reserved solely for educational purposes.
The judge pointedly noted that the National Land Commission (NLC), which is constitutionally mandated to manage public land, had been completely bypassed in the subdivision process.
Even more scathing was his rebuke of the Attorney General’s office, which had joined the respondents in “vindicating a flawed process” instead of protecting the Constitution as mandated by Article 156.
In his final orders, the judge declared that the subdivision, transfer, and dealing with the land violated the petitioners' constitutional rights to equality and fair administrative action.
He not only canceled the illegal titles for the subdivisions but also issued a conservation order and a permanent injunction, restraining the respondents, including the Administration Police College Meru (the 4th Respondent) from trespassing, evicting the school, or interfering with its quiet possession and enjoyment.
However, a community member closely following the case told this publication on condition of anonymity for fear of intimidation from local administrators, that, despite the court ruling, the dispute appears to have resurfaced.
“The court gave us hope. We thought the fighting was over. But if you look at what is happening on the ground today, it is as if that judgment was never written. They are back, and this time they are using our own government offices to do it,” the community member said.
The New Assault: Letters, Surveyors, and Police Officers
The most recent attack on the school’s land began on July 27th, 2026.
In a letter addressed to the Principal Secretary, State Department for Basic Education, Hon. John Lekakeny Ololtuaa, Mr. Fred M. Mwei (signing on behalf of the PS) issued a directive to the County Director of Education in Meru.
The letter ordered the surrender of four acres of the school’s land to the police camp, despite the court’s clear order that such land could not be alienated.
To make matters worse, a subsequent letter from the County Director of Education to the school’s Head Teacher, dated 23rd July 2026, contained the devastating news.
Administrative agents purporting to be surveyors had already appeared on the school grounds, accompanied by six heavily armed police officers, to begin the demarcation of the land for surrender.
They claimed they were acting on “court direction.”
“They are trying to arm-twist the truth,” one of the affected residents told this publication.
“There is no court order allowing them to take four acres. The judgment is clear. They are using the state machinery to force through an illegality.”
The Sham Public Participation: A Ksh 500 Bribe and 2kg of Maize Flour
Perhaps the most heartbreaking and cynical twist in this saga involves the deliberate manipulation of the very community the school is meant to serve.
To circumvent the court order, local sub-county administrators held a "discriminative" Board of Management (BOM) meeting on the 3rd and 4th of August 2026.
The sole objective of this meeting was to pass a resolution to excise the school land.
Following this, a massive operation was mounted on August 6th, 2026. Under the guise of "public participation," a group of individuals, handpicked and ferried into a meeting by the local administration, the Deputy County Commissioner (DCC), and the Sub-County Director of Education, was summoned.
Sources close to the school disclosed that each attendee was handed a token amounting to Ksh. 500 and a 2-kilogram packet of maize flour.
The objective was clear: buy their allegiance with food and cash, secure a unanimous "yes sir" from a manufactured crowd, and claim the community had voluntarily ceded the school's land to the police.
Furthermore, a public notice dated 7th August 2026 (signed by Meru County Commissioner George O. Omolo), calls for a "Public Participation Forum" regarding the implementation of Order No. 7 of the Court Judgment, scheduled for Monday, 17th August 2026.
This event is being held at a meeting venue in Kirimancuma Sub-Location, weeks after the resolutions to give away the land have already been secretly passed.
“Sanitizing an event that has already been recorded as being done,” said a prominent teacher from the region, speaking on anonymity.
“They have already taken the land. The meeting on Monday is just a photo-op to make it look lawful on paper. They have already bribed some parents to say 'yes'. They are putting on a play, but the real tragedy is our children.”
The Real Culprit: A Local Police Officer with Immense Interests
The community alleges that the strong-arm tactics are being spearheaded by a senior police officer currently stationed at the Administration Police College Meru.
The source describes this individual as a highly connected local who has immense vested interests in the land and property portfolio within the region.
“The police camp is not a stranger to this situation. They know the court ruling. They know they are in contempt. But they have a specific officer, someone who knows this terrain intimately and has entrenched interests here, driving this entire process forward. They are using the sub-county and county offices as puppets to circumvent the law,” a notable resident said.
A Cry from the Learners
While the local administration focuses on land grabbing, the state of the school itself is lamentable.
The current terrain of Kirimancuma Primary School leaves almost no room for the expansion required for the new Junior Secondary School (JSS) status.
“We don’t have enough land for expansion because of the terrain,” a parent told this publication.
“The school needs that remaining land to build classrooms, laboratories, and teachers' facilities for the junior secondary school students. Yet, the police camp is literally a neighbor. Their training activities, the drills, the noise, it interrupts our children's lessons every single day.”
The source added that the police camp performing paramilitary drills on the school grounds creates an extreme interruption, affecting the concentration and academic progress of learners who are already navigating an overcrowded facility.
The community is not asking for the police to leave the area entirely; they are asking for the police to relocate to a region where their services are genuinely needed, rather than occupying prime educational land right on the school's doorstep.
The Final Tragedy: The First Subdivision
The situation exposes a horrifying reality of land grabbing in Kenya, where public land is rarely stolen wholesale but instead taken piecemeal through a subtle and ruthless game of attrition.
“Stealing of such public land begins with the first subdivision. That is exactly what happened to us. They took the first slice, got away with it, and now they are coming for the rest. If they succeed, the school will not have a future,” a local resident said.
As the Public Participation Forum scheduled for Monday, August 17th, 2026, looms, the community of Kirimancuma is calling upon investigative agencies, honest leaders, and the office of the Attorney General to fulfill their constitutional duty.
The matter remains live in court, with the respondents required to comply with the existing court orders within the six months previously sought and surrender the land to the institution as directed.
Any further subdivision or alienation of the land would therefore amount to contempt of court and constitute a direct challenge to the rule of law.
The community has also formally opposed any further subdivision of the school land in correspondence to the Ministry of Education, urging the police camp to relocate to another area to allow for better learning conditions and future expansion of the institution.
Whether the court orders will ultimately be enforced or the community will face further attempts to alter the status of the land remains to be seen, but parents, teachers and students maintain that they will continue defending the school and its land.
The unfolding dispute over Kirimancuma Primary School land has also recently featured on vernacular television station Weru TV, with a feature capturing the raw emotions of the community as residents continue to fight for the preservation of the school land.
