A good number of people have resorted to wishing for their bodies to be cremated after death lately, with the latest and most popular one being fallen multiparty icon Kenneth Matiba who directed that his body be burned instead of being buried upon his death.
The new is trend probably being accelerated by the alarmingly increasing cost of burial space and the long and costly procedure involved in the burial option.
Here is the process of cremation in the nation's most popular crematorium at the Lang'ata cemetery.
According to Nderitu Mwangi, the officer in charge of the Langa'ta cemetery, the process starts at the mortuary before the corpse is delivered for incineration.
After that, he said, the payment is made before the procedure of burning the body ensues.
''The relatives or friends of the dead person have to first open a file at the morgue for record keeping before paying a cremation fee of 16, 800. They must notify us of the cremation plan 24 hours in advance to allow us to undertake the required preparation,'' he told Citizen TV on Thursday.
''On the agreed date, the body is brought in prepared and in a casket just as is the case in burial after which it is wheeled up to the door of the cremation room and taken over by our officials who proceed to take it to the furnace. One of the persons accompanying the body is then allowed to set it on fire,'' he added.
He noted that it takes between 6 to 8 hours for the body to completely break down, a process that includes the use of around 40 liters of diesel fuel.
After that, the crematorium attendants collect the tiny remaining bits of bones which are further burnt to produce ash which is handed over to the family at request.
''A quarter or an eighth of the bone ash is given to the family and friends most of whom store it for remembrance,'' he revealed.