- The High Court has ordered education officials to restore Gatoto Comprehensive School to the private ownership and management of its founding petitioners.
- Justice Gregory Mutai has directed the Regional Director of Education to issue a fresh registration certificate within two days.
- Senior government officials, including Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat, have been summoned to explain the delayed implementation of the court’s orders.
A protracted legal battle over the ownership of Gatoto Comprehensive School in Mukuru Kwa Reuben has taken a fresh turn after the High Court directed education officials to restore the institution to the private management of the petitioners who founded it.
Justice Gregory Mutai, ruling on Tuesday, August 18, ordered that both the management and ownership of the school revert to the petitioners within a two-day window, while also directing the Regional Director of Education to issue a fresh registration certificate recognising them as the school’s rightful owners.
At the heart of the dispute is whether Gatoto should continue operating as a public school or revert to its original status as a private, non-profit community-based institution registered under the Alternative Provision of Basic Education and Training (APBET) framework.
According to court records, the school traces its roots to 1994, when it was established by the Gatoto Integrated Development Programme (GIDP), a community-based organisation, and has since been sustained through support from the organisation itself, donors and parents.
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The school’s management had pushed back against attempts by education authorities to alter its status to that of a public institution, arguing that the move had been made without proper consultation or a fair chance to be heard.
The High Court sided with the petitioners in a judgment delivered in June 2025, holding that Gatoto was indeed a community-based APBET institution and that the process used to convert it into a public school was unlawful.
As part of that ruling, the court cancelled a registration certificate issued on October 15, 2024, which had altered the institution’s status, and ordered that Gatoto instead be registered as a private, non-profit APBET school under the petitioners’ ownership and management.
In reaching its decision, the court noted that the institution had historically been established and run through private community interests, and had not previously been funded or operated as a government school prior to the disputed 2024 registration.
A year on, with the judgment yet to be fully implemented, Justice Mutai issued fresh orders on June 25, 2026, directing the Principal Secretary for Basic Education and the Nairobi County Education Board to act on the earlier ruling and restore the school to its founders, with police instructed to provide security during the handover.
Implementation of the orders has nonetheless remained contentious, prompting the court to summon senior government officials to account for the delays. In July, Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat and Principal Secretary for Basic Education Julius Bitok Ololtuaa were all called before the court over claims that its directives had not been fully complied with.
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The government has maintained that the matter should be resolved through established education structures, even as community members and other interested parties continue to oppose the attempted change in the school’s status, with some indicating plans to challenge the High Court’s decision at the Court of Appeal.
The court continues to monitor compliance with its directives. Deputy Inspector General Lagat is expected to appear before the court on Thursday, August 20, to account for the police’s role in enforcing the orders, the same day by which the Regional Director of Education has been given until to issue the fresh registration certificate confirming the petitioners as owners of the school.
By Masaki Enock
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