- The High Court has reserved its ruling to August 14, 2026, on the Attorney General’s bid to suspend a judgment handing Gatoto Community-Based Primary School back to its board.
- The State has argued that transferring management now, with national exams approaching in October, could disrupt pupils and require reassigning TSC teachers without sufficient notice.
A High Court decision on whether to freeze the handover of Gatoto Community-Based Primary School to its board of directors will now hinge on a ruling scheduled for August 14, 2026, after the Attorney General pressed for interim orders to halt implementation of an earlier judgment restoring the institution to its petitioners.
The matter, which came up before Justice Gregory Mutai on Wednesday, centres on a long-running dispute over control of the school in Mukuru Kwa Reuben.
The State is seeking to keep the current management structure in place while it pursues a stay application at the Court of Appeal, arguing that an abrupt transfer could unsettle the institution.
Representing the Attorney General, State counsel urged the court to place the welfare of pupils at the centre of its decision, warning that changing the school’s management and staffing at this stage could disrupt learners who are due to sit national examinations in October. Counsel noted that reversing the current arrangement would require reassigning teachers employed by the Teachers Service Commission, as well as members of the existing management team, a process that could not happen without adequate notice.
“There are transfer and baggage claims allowances that must be set aside. You can’t transfer people without sufficient notice,” counsel told the court.
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The government further pointed out that Gatoto had been run as a public school since 2003, and argued that unwinding that arrangement now would disrupt systems that had been operating for years. Counsel maintained that the State had demonstrated it stood to suffer substantial loss and asked the court to preserve the status quo until the Court of Appeal determines the stay application.
The school’s board pushed back firmly against the request, telling the court that it had a long track record of managing the institution and had put in place systems to keep it running, including hiring teachers and other staff and providing food programmes since the school was established. The petitioners said they had owned the school for 30 years.
Lawyers for the board argued that the matter had already been settled in June 2025, when the court declared Gatoto a private, non-profit Alternative Provision of Basic Education and Training (APBET) institution and directed that its management be restored to the petitioners. They questioned why the government was now moving to delay a judgment that had been on record for over a year, and argued that granting the State’s request would amount to yet another attempt to frustrate the handover.
The board also faulted the government for running parallel applications over the same dispute in different courts, terming the move an abuse of court process. “This is a wastage of the court’s time coming 14 months after delivery of judgement,” the board’s counsel submitted.
High Court orders immediate transfer of Gatoto School to Mukuru community
The case has already attracted attention at senior levels of government. The court had previously summoned Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja to explain why earlier orders directing the school’s handover had not been implemented. Kanja appeared before the court last month and said he was ready to comply, but needed clarity on the challenges that had held up execution of the orders.
Following that appearance, the court directed Kanja and the Deputy Inspector General to ensure adequate security is in place for the handover, which had been scheduled for Thursday, August 13. The matter has also been set down for a further mention to assess compliance with the court’s directions.
Mutai’s ruling is expected to determine whether the handover proceeds as planned or is put on hold pending the outcome of the appeal.
By Masaki Enock
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