Nairobi’s City Hall is seeking an extra 200 acres of land to serve as a public cemetery even as the push for cremation fails to gather momentum as expected.
Nairobi County Health Executive Hitan Majevdia on Monday 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 towards cremation,” he said.
According to a County 2018 Fiscal strategy paper, Lang’ata cemetery which is the City’s main burial ground is full and City Hall is looking for more land.
Majevdia however says that the purchase of the land may take up to one year to avoid controversy such as the one surrounding previously purchased Mavoko land.
“We are willing to purchase the land in any good area but we do not wish to make mistakes like what happened in the past. This time it has to be transparent otherwise we will not even purchase it,” remarked Majevdia.
Because Langata cemetery has filled up, families have been forced to bury their loved ones in shallow graves, thus failing to meet the recommended six feet depth. “The City’s main cemetery ground at Langata 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.