Led by former councillor Mr Abdalla Hassan Mwangazenge, the parents uprooted crops on the disputed three and a half acres plot which they claimed to have bought at about Ksh 3 million raised through fundraisers.
“We have decided to take this land over and turn it into a playground for our children,” said Abdalla. A woman embroiled in the land ownership tussle with the school was forced to flee after the charged parents stormed the farm and destroyed sugarcane and bananas growing on it and vowed to protect the property by all means.
“We bought the land from one Joseph Rengo and his brothers and went ahead to process it yet nobody came up to object, we are surprised that somebody should claim ownership of the same piece of land when the school has a title deed for it,” the school head teacher Thaddeus Akhwesa told journalists.
Pamella Wakhungu, a parent, said even area MP Ayub Savula had contributed Sh600, 000 part of the money that went into the purchase of the land for the Lugari school. “We held several ‘harambee’ functions in order to raise enough money to buy the school at that particular plot, we cannot allow anybody to grab it at the expense of the pupils.”
Mr Akhwesa said the school currently is situated on a half acre piece of land which was too small for the over 420 pupils. “Parents got tired and decided to act after the lady wanted to erect some structures on the disputed land,” added the teacher.
The parents challenged the lady to produce evidence that the disputed land was indeed her property. “We call upon the local administrators to intervene because we followed due process in acquiring this land and anyone laying claim to it must be investigated for attempting to steal public property,” said Mr. Abdalla.
West media could not immediately get a comment from the accused woman because she had fled the scene. However, documents shown to us by the Lugari Township primary school headteacher Mr. Thaddeus Akwesa showed the disputed land was the property of the school.