City Hall eyes 200 acres for burial to ease Lang'ata load

A section of Lang'ata Cemetery in Nairobi. [David Njaaga, Standard]

Kenyans have been urged to embrace cremation even as City Hall seeks 200 acres for a public cemetery.

The Nairobi County health executive, Hitan Majevdia, yesterday said the uptake of cremation in Nairobi was next to zero, citing African customs as a major hindrance.

“It seems many people fear fire, but we are working to ensure that Nairobians are receptive to cremation,” Dr Majevdia told The Standard.

He argued that cremation was cheaper and more effective.

According to the county fiscal strategy paper for 2018, Lang’ata Cemetery, the city’s main burial ground, is full and City Hall is looking for more land.

Majevdia, however, said the purchase of the land could take up to one year to avoid controversy such as the one surrounding the one previously purchased in Mavoko.

“We are willing to purchase the land in any good area but we do not wish to make the mistakes that happened in the past. This time it has to be transparent otherwise we will not purchase the land."

Shallow graves

Because Lang'ata cemetery has filled up, families bury their loved ones in shallow graves, thus failing to meet the recommended six feet depth.

“The city’s main cemetery ground at Lang'ata is constrained and there is urgent need for developing a new facility. The government targets to acquire 200 acres of land towards developing this facility,” states the strategy paper.  

The 100-acre Lang'ata cemetery was declared full about 20 years ago and the city government has been looking for alternative land ever since.

In 2009, City Hall lost millions of shillings after the now defunct City Council of Nairobi paid Sh283 million for 48.5 acres in Mavoko, Machakos County. The land had been valued at Sh24 million.

Former Local Government permanent secretary Sammy Kirui and former City Council of Nairobi Clerk John Gakuo were jailed for their role in the Sh283 million cemetery land scandal. Kirui and Gakuo were sentenced to three years in jail and fined Sh1 million each for abuse of office and failing to comply with procurement rules in purchasing the land.

In the 2016/2017 budget, the county had expressed an interest in acquiring burial land in Kajiado, but that also turned out to be a costly venture.

Majevdia noted that an independent government valuer would be involved in the purchase to avoid wastage of public funds.

Separately, the county health department has said cremation would address the land scarcity issue.

City Hall charges Sh16,500 to cremate adults and Sh15,500 for children. This is compared to Sh30,000 for an adult permanent grave, Sh4,000 for a child below 18 years and Sh2,000 for an infant.

Those from outside Nairobi have to part with Sh40,000.

City Hall says that, on average, there are three to four burials daily at Lang’ata cemetery.

Temporary graves are usually dug up every two to three years so that the cemetery can accommodate more bodies.