By Alonso Olano
APAC-Tension is brewing between the School Management Committee (SMC) of Teboke Primary School and Teboke Catholic Parish over land dispute.
If this feud is left unresolved, experts are worried, it might affect learners.
Procedurely, SMCs are appointed by government on recommendation of the foundation bodies.
But Teboke Primary SMC under the leadership of Mr. Francis Odongo is fighting with Catholic Parish council over a piece of land on which the former is already constructing a new class room block and staff houses which land the latter insists it is for the church and not the school.
The church says the land where the said construction is taking place was reserved as an ordination ground.
Teboke Catholic Parish is the foundation body of Teboke Primary School.
Some parents said that the land in question was temporarily given to the church for ordination ground but it still belonged to the school.
Mr Brian Ogwal the vice chairman of the SMC of accused the parish priest of Teboke Catholic Parish of attempting to forcefully take the school land.
“We were at the construction site when this parish priest came and told us to stop the construction but we continued until he came back again and started taking our pictures so this scared our builders and they left the site,” he said.
Ms Catherine Olek, a parent of this school said this land was given by their forefathers for both the school and the church.
“Our grandparents gave the church this land a long time ago and this land which the parish priest is claiming is part of the school land and the boundary is clear,” she said.
On the other hand, Mr. Tonny Odyek the area councilor Teboke North Parish in Teboke Subcounty said on Wednesday, May 10th in an interview with Eye Media that the land in question belongs to the Church and not the school.
“The boundary of the school land and the church is clear but when we gave them this land at the time the church was ordaining some priests they took advantage of that and they don’t want us to repossess it,” he said.
Mr Daudi Odora the directly elected LC5 councilor for Teboke Subcounty wondered why the church is fighting the school yet it’s the same body.
“The foundation body which would have supported the school and protected its property is the one grabbing the school land.”
“This is exposing the school to other land grabbers so I am appealing to the parish priest to come and we sit down and resolve this matter peacefully,” he said.
Reached for a comment on this story, Rev. Fr Carlos Ojuka the Parish Priest of Teboke Catholic Parish admitted stopping the construction at the school.
He said the door was open for peaceful and amicable resolution of the matter because the church and the school are one body.
“The present site is too close to the church and that is the ground for other events related to the church,” he said.
Apac District Senior Education Officer, Mr Patrick Ocen pledged to follow up the matter and ensure that it is resolved amicably.
“If the foundation is having tension with the school of which the school is the son of the church [then] it looks very awkward ……., as a district we are going to have a meeting with the school authority so that we resolve the matter,” he pledged.
There are 58 government aided primary schools in Apac and according to Mr Patrick Ocen majority of these schools don’t have their land titles.
