County yet to get 30 acres for cemetery project

A family at the Naivasha cemetery recently. The cemetery is filled up. [Antony Gitonga, Standard]

Residents have asked the Nakuru County government to resolve the cemetery crisis in Naivasha town.

They said two years after the Naivasha cemetery filled up, the county was yet to buy another parcel.

As a result, families have been forced to ferry bodies to cemeteries in Longonot or Gilgil towns, which are kilometers away.

Naivasha Professional Association Chairman Eskimos Kobia said lack of a cemetery in Naivasha had caused untold suffering to families.

He said the county leadership had promised to address the matter but that was all.

“Mourners are suffering as they have to raise extra money to ferry the bodies of their loved ones to Gilgil or Longonot,” he said.

Addressing the Press in Naivasha, yesterday, Mr Kobia said the Longonot cemetery did not have washrooms or water, further inconveniencing mourners.

But Chief Officer of Public Health Samuel King’ori said land owners in Naivasha and Nakuru had failed to respond to advertisements by the county, which had sought more than 30 acres for a cemetery.

“We have on placed adverts in the dailies seeking cemetery land in Naivasha and Nakuru but we have not received any response. The available land is always either too expensive or unfit for a cemetery,” he said.