By The Weekly Vision
Pressure is mounting on Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja to implement an earlier order issued by his predecessor on residential houses occupied by county staff in various primary schools. Reports say that there has been a tussle between Nairobi City and Primary school heads over who has the right to live in the houses in various primary schools.
Whereas some City Hall officials from the housing department insist that county staff have a right to live in the houses and pay rent to the county, primary heads and their boards believe the teachers have a right to the houses. We have established that top City Hall officers from the housing department had allocated the houses to either themselves, their relatives or to city hall staff who have occupied the houses for years.
It is however alleged that some county staff have been sub-leasing the houses and pocketing the rent. The practice, according to sources, has been going on for years. We have also gathered that it is not only the county staff and officers from the housing department who lease the houses to outsiders, even some head teachers are known to lease houses to non-teachers and non-county staff.
The governor has now been asked to come in and resolve this matter and decide on who has the right to occupy residential houses in primary schools. If the governor finds that the houses should be occupied by teachers then he should immediately order county staff to vacate the houses.
The matter is likely to rekindle the long war of words between Nairobi City County and TSC over who should be running primary schools in Nairobi. The county claims the schools are built on land donated by the county while TSC only employs teachers. The matter is yet to be resolved.
