Don't convert cemetery into park — Nakuru residents

Nakuru county plans to convert the filled-to-capacity  Nakuru North cemetery into a leisure park.

Not one with water slides and merry-go-rounds, but one that's well maintained with more trees, flowers, benches and a perimeter wall —  a place for contemplation.

It's overgrown with grass, bushes and cactus; goats are taken there to graze.

Graves would not be disturbed in the park plan. 

Public participation is planned. 

Predictably, the plan has divided the community.

A section of Nakuru residents is strongly opposed to altering the land opposite Nakuru Level 5 Hospital. 

“We want departed souls to rest in peace and not be disturbed. A park is against our culture," said Mary Wambui whose mother was buried at the cemetery two years ago.

They reacted to the statement by the county's chief officer for Public Health, Dr Samuel King’ori on the management of public cemeteries.  

“The county plans to transform the filled-up Nakuru North Cemetery into a recreational park," he said."The move will ensure the cemetery is well maintained,” Dr King’ori said.  

After assembly approval, public participation will be scheduled and their concerns taken into consideration before it is implemented.

Some residents complained, however, that the plan will make the area more insecure and crime may increase.  

“Smokers go there to do what they do best, smoke bhang," said Daniel Murugu secretary of the Nakuru Public Opinion Consultative Initiative. 

Making it a recreational facility will allow all sorts of people to take their leisure at the cemetery, hence, increasing insecurity," he said.

Peter Kamau, 39, takes a very different view. He welcomes the idea.

He said he goes to the cemetery to relax over lunch or on weekends when he has spare time.

“What could be more life-affirming than the reminder our time on earth will inevitably come to an end?" asked Kamau, the father of two.

"My grandfather died before I was born so childhood visits to relatives would always mean a long walk up through the village to visit his grave,” Kamau said.

He said," Some of my earliest and happiest memories involve hazy afternoons spent amongst graves at the cemetery."

If approved, the bill would require the county to improve and maintain the cemetery.

The government has set aside Sh3 million to build a wall. the county also will plant flowers, buy lawnmowers and sprinklers "so the cemetery will have a new face". 

King’ori said residents who had reserved the graves at Sh100,000 before devolution were still burying their loved ones. The number of reserved graves had declined to3 4 by mid-October.

The cemetery also has a section for Jewish nationals and one for Commonwealth veterans of the First and Second World Wars.

“The filled-up cemetery is a  heritage site as it has war graves. We want to make it an improved heritage site, like similar cemeteries in Europe and elsewhere," King’ori. said.

Cremation

Around Nakuru counties, cemeteries are filling up and there is unlikely to be burial space by the end of the year.

King’ori said the county was planning to prioritise building a public crematorium.

Nakuru North and Naivasha Cemetery are full, while other cemeteries are expected to be full by year's end.

Residents said Nakuru includes people from different ethnic groups with different burial customers and it would difficult to persuade them to cremate.

A plot costs Sh20,000 at Nakuru North Cemetery and Sh3,000 at Nakuru South.

The county has not identified land for a new cemetery.

“Most people are afraid to sell us the land because they do not want to live near a cemetery or have their land border it,” King’ori said.

The officer also said a cemetery must have strong, not loose soil, as required by law.

“The law requires a soil type assessment be done to establish whether it can allow for speedy body decomposition,” he said.

King’ori said the county has set aside Sh15 million to buy another burial site.

However, he said it has not been easy to secure land in the 11 subcounties.

“We floated the Expression of Interest notice but nobody has come forward to show interest in selling land ," King'ori said. The notice was extended but still, there has been no interest.

The county intends to buy land in Gilgil, Rongai and Njoro subcounties.

Since devolution in 2013, it has been challenging to get land for new public cemeteries.

He cited traditional beliefs and taboos among Nakuru residents as obstacles.

However, Governor Lee Kinyanjui says his administration is determined to get alternative land for public cemeteries as Nakuru gears up for elevation to city status.

(Edited by V. Graham)