Families refuse to bury kin in cemeteries despite land crisis

Close graves at the Asian quarter’s graveyard in Nyeri that has filled up with fresh ones being dug on top of older ones, July 12, 2018. [ Mose Sammy, Standard]

In March, Thomas Kimathi and his family shocked neighbours in Wiyumiiririe village in Nyeri when they announced plans to bury their father at the Baden Powell Cemetery.

Villagers thought of the idea as abominable. To them, it amounted to throwing away their beloved into the ‘bush’.

So serious was the issue that it was subjected to intense discussions among family and friends.

“It was not our wish to bury him there, but the family had gone to court over a land dispute and most of us live in rented houses in informal settlements,” Kimathi says.

Only close family attended the funeral, with most choosing to stay away to protest the family’s decision.

Villagers warned that their plan would come back to haunt them since the community considers burying a relative away from home a taboo.

“We were warned that at the public cemetery, our father might have his grave robbed and his coffin stolen,” he says.

Despite paying the fees and performing the final rites for his father, Mr Kimathi admits he worries about his remains. Many other residents from Central Kenya suffer the same fate.

Despite the fact that sizes of family land keep shrinking with each succession, cemeteries in Nyeri are barely occupied.

Ironically, towns such as Nakuru and Nairobi need more space to accommodate their dead.

Nyeri County has several public commentaries, including three main ones in Nyeri town. The county also has an additional four private cemeteries that include the Mathari Missionaries Cemetery belonging to the Catholic Church, the Italian War Cemetery, the British War Cemetery as well as a private cemetery in Amboni, Mweiga town.

Both war cemeteries are under the Italian and British embassies, where the remains of soldiers who died during World War II are interred.

Sacred site

Nyeri County chairman of the Kikuyu Council of Elders David Muthoga says locals believe there is life after death and those who have passed on live as ancestors, watching over their relatives.

The burial site is considered sacred and no crops must be planted on it; animals too should not graze on the plot.

“It is considered an abandonment of sorts to bury a relative away from their home, therefore it is difficult for people to embrace public cemeteries as an option,” says Muthoga.

He, however, says some affluent families from the region have embraced cremation, including the late Nobel Laureate Prof Wangari Maathai’s and politician Kenneth Matiba’s.

County Director for Sanitation John Mugenyu says locals prefer to bury their loved ones in family or ancestral land and rarely do they seek burial permits in public cemeteries. “It is a cultural thing and that is why some of the cemeteries are yet to be utilised,” he says.

According to the Public Health Sanitation Department, out of the public cemeteries in the county, Nyeri Baden Powell Public Cemetery is most popular, and is 90 per cent filled to capacity. “Majority of unclaimed bodies and people from informal settlements are buried there,” says Health Chief Officer Newton Wambugu.

The cost

The only public cemetery which was located in Karatina had to be closed after it was declared full years ago.

“As a department, we get a burial permit request once or twice a month. Some cemeteries have never been used,” says Wambugu.

To bury an adult at Baden Powel Cemetery costs Sh2, 300, plus an additional burial site application fee of Sh300. Burying a child at the same cemetery costs Sh1, 700. Other cemeteries charge Sh1, 800 for adults and Sh1, 100 for children.