Please cremate the dead, City Hall tells Nairobians

By PKEMOI NG’ENOH

City Hall has asked Nairobians to cremate the dead instead of burying them as it is the custom for many communities.

Many Nairobians prefer to bury their loved ones in their home villages upcountry, but the high cost of transport and other funeral expenses are simply out of reach.

And in the city, public cemeteries are congested and the cost of buying a grave was recently increased by the county government.

City medical officer Robert Ayisi said the county government is trying to convince Nairobians to cremate the dead.

“Cremation is hygienic, cheap and does not have any environmental impacts. The cost of transporting bodies from Nairobi to upcountry is unbearable so we should try this,” Ayisi said.

He said City Hall has already identified a site to put up another crematorium in Lang’ata for those ready to adopt the idea.

“We are ready to install it (equipment at the site) even before the end of the year, only that we are still looking for funds,” he told The Nairobian.

However, opinion in the streets is divided on cremation.

“This is not a bad idea but I don’t think it will apply for now considering how we are culturally brought up” John Muthee, a city resident, and ardent Christian said.

When he dies, he would want to be cremated but he is trying to convince his family at the moment who are opposed to his choice.

Bishop Richard Nato of AFG’s said: “Cremation sounds strange but it will depend on individuals. However the practice is not Biblical and the meaning of “last respect” is totally lost (through cremation).” Michael Kim, another resident, said when Lang’ata cemetery is divided between a “permanent” and “temporary” section. So a large number of Nairobi’s poor choose to bury their family members in a temporary grave.

Graves here are flattened every five years, maybe less, to make room for more bodies.

In 2008 rates of burying a body in at Lang’ata cemetery rose from Sh17,400 to Sh25,000 but the cost of cremation remained at Sh9,000 to encourage people to use this as an alternative to burial.

Cremation can be performed at a cemetery, a funeral home offering cremation services, or a stand-alone crematoria to prepare the body for final disposition.

In this process, the dead body is placed in a cremation chamber and subjected to extreme heat and direct flame to convert it into cremains.

It usually takes about two to three hours, depending on factors like weight of the body, the type of casket or container in which the body is placed or temperature in the retort.

While cremating, though, the body is reduced to skeletal remains and bone pieces right after incineration.