The Milimani High Court has reaffirmed its earlier orders directing that Gatoto Comprehensive School in Mukuru Kwa Reuben, Nairobi, be restored to private ownership and management of the petitioners in the dispute. Justice Gregory Mutai directed the Regional Director of Education to reissue the school’s certificate of registration, incorporating the petitioners as the owners, within two days. The judge further ordered that the ownership and management of the institution be restored to the petitioners within the same two-day period.
The matter will proceed on Thursday, August 20, 2026, when Deputy Inspector General of Police Eliud Lagat is expected to appear and explain issues surrounding compliance with the court’s orders. The latest directions come amid a prolonged dispute over the legal status, ownership and management of Gatoto Community Primary School, which has pitted the school’s board and community against education officials and other respondents.
The dispute dates back to attempts to change Gatoto’s status from a private, non-profit community-based Alternative Provision of Basic Education and Training (APBET) institution into a public school. According to court records, Gatoto was established in 1994 by the Gatoto Integrated Development Programme (GIDP), a community-based non-profit organisation. The school was managed and financed by the organisation, donors and parents and operated for decades as a community institution.
The school’s management challenged a decision to re-register it as a public institution, arguing that the process was undertaken without consultation or due process. In a judgment delivered in June 2025, the High Court found that Gatoto was a non-profit community-based APBET school and held that the attempt to convert it into a public institution was unlawful. The court consequently quashed a certificate of registration dated October 15, 2024, which had purportedly changed the institution’s status. It also directed the relevant education authorities to re-register Gatoto as a private, non-profit APBET school under the ownership and management of the petitioners.
The court found that Gatoto had historically been established and managed by private community interests and had not received government funding or operated as a government school before the disputed re-registration. The judgment also found that the process used to change the school’s status had violated the petitioners’ right to fair administrative action because they had not been given adequate notice, an opportunity to be heard or reasons for the decision. The ownership dispute, however, continued despite the earlier judgment and subsequent orders by Justice Mutai.
On June 25, 2026, Justice Mutai directed the Principal Secretary for Basic Education and the Nairobi County Education Board to register Gatoto as a private, non-profit APBET school under the ownership and management of the petitioners. He also directed that ownership and management of the school be restored to the petitioners, with police officers deployed to provide security during the handover. The implementation of those orders has since triggered further court proceedings, with senior government and police officials being called upon to explain alleged non-compliance.
In July, the court summoned senior officials, including Inspector General of Police Douglas Kanja, Deputy Inspector General Eliud Lagat and Principal Secretary for Basic Education Julius Bitok Ololtuaa, following claims that the court’s orders had not been fully implemented. The government side has previously argued that the dispute should be addressed through the relevant education administration structures, while residents and other groups have opposed the court-directed change in the school’s status and indicated plans to challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.
Justice Mutai’s latest directive now places the Regional Director of Education under a two-day deadline to issue the registration certificate reflecting the petitioners’ ownership and management of the school. The appearance of DIG Lagat on Thursday is expected to provide the court with further clarification on the implementation of its orders and the role of the police in the ongoing Gatoto dispute.
