Nyakinyua dancers with President Jomo Kenyatta.
A land dispute at the heart of Kamukunji has reopened old wounds and stirred fresh anxieties, pitting an elderly women’s cultural troupe against a public secondary school that has occupied the contested ground for more than four decades.
The Galole Women Dancers Group, whose lineage traces back to the famed Nyakinyua dancers, insists it is the rightful owner of a parcel within the seven-acre compound that houses Maina Wanjigi Girls Secondary School in Nairobi.
Their claim is anchored on an allotment letter, a title deed and a green card issued after surveys conducted years ago.
Appearing before the Nairobi City County Assembly’s Planning Committee, the group’s chairperson, Halima Gole, recounted how unscrupulous individuals are allegedly attempting to grab the land.
A portrait of Nyakinyua women dancers (front row kneeling) other dancers and leaders with the late President Jomo Kenyatta taken in April 1978 at the Nakuru State Lounge.
The land, she told MCAs, was gifted to the dancers by founding President Jomo Kenyatta in 1966. It is on this same land that former Kamukunji MP Maina Wanjigi would later spearhead the establishment of the school in 1982 – a project jointly funded by the women and the government.
Struggle
But today, Ms Gole told the committee that the women – mostly elderly, frail and widowed – are locked in a prolonged struggle with “unknown individuals” who, she claims, have tried to dislodge them by invoking the school’s name.
“They come at midnight, break into our houses and order us to leave. Our homes have been burned three times. Some of our women are sick; others have died in the middle of this. All we want is justice. This land belongs to us, and we have the documents to prove it,” she told the committee chaired by Kitisuru MCA Alvin Palapala.
At the centre of the row is LR No Nairobi Block 49/977 – a 0.3302-hectare slice of land valued at about Sh210 million.
The dispute was formally flagged to the Ministry of Lands by Kamukunji Deputy County Commissioner Fredrick Martin Muli, who in a letter dated March 13 requested the Director of Survey to dispatch officers to the site.
After visiting the location, Mr Muli said he could not determine whether the parcel claimed by the women was distinct from, or part of, the school’s compound.
Surviving members of Wareng/Nyakinyua display the main title deed of their 80-acre piece of land located in the outskirt of Eldoret town given to them by founding father of the nation Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. The land is estimated to be worth Sh800 million
However, the inquiry stalled when a third claimant – a man identified only as Mr Kariuki – surfaced, forcing the DCC to suspend the survey process.
“The matter is becoming murky and complicated,” Mr Muli said, adding that the school’s land, despite being fenced by the Ministry of Education in 2018, still lacks a title deed – a gap that has opened the door to multiple claims.
Area MP Yusuf Hassan and Sub-County Director of Education Luley Abdullahi Yahya insist the land belongs to the school.
They describe the dancers’ claim as part of a broader pattern of well-organised attempts to grab public property.
“There have been several attempts to seize this land using various groups,” MP Hassan previously said.
“We stand firmly with Maina Wanjigi Secondary School against land cartels.”
He added that the Ministry of Education’s legal department is now handling the escalating dispute, noting that the contested area was included in the ministry-funded perimeter wall erected seven years ago to secure the land from encroachment.
The absence of a formal title for the school continues to complicate matters; and the women’s group fears their decades-old home and cultural anchor may slip through their fingers.
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