Residents of Kimende in Kijabe ward, Kiambu, have held a peaceful protest to demand repossession of a grabbed portion of their cemetery.
They said they are being forced to bury their loved ones on top of other people's graves.
"At times when young people are digging graves, they discover bones of people who were buried many years ago, and this has been shocking," Virginia Wanjiru, a resident, said.
Wanjiru alleged that three acres of the public cemetery were grabbed and sold to a private developer, leaving them with one acre.
She asked the Kiambu county government to revisit the issue and establish the size of the facility and fence it, saying they will not bury other bodies on top of others.
"We shall not fear any more. We shall start proceeding to the grabbed land and we shall be digging graves. We won't care what is planted. All we know is that is our public cemetery."
Another resident, Thinguri Warwathe, said the land was grabbed about 27 years ago and sold off.
Warwathe said they reported the issue to the Lands ministry and the defunct Kiambu County Council.
He further said the government stopped the land grabbing, but not before the grabber sold it another buyer.
"The cemetery has been having a live fence all these years. We were planning to uproot it since last week because the new buyer came and told some of the neighbours that he wants to start developing the land," he said.
Elijah Gathuiya, another resident, said the buyer is from Banana.
He asked the county to partner with the Lands ministry to fence the facility and save the residents their three acres.
Warwathe said they were also following up on other grabbed lands in Kijabe ward and they will do all they can to have them repossessed.
"We know there are other lands which were grabbed in this ward. The worst areas are in Kimende where the chief's office is. We shall see some plots, hospital and even a church being demolished," he said.
(edited by Amol Awuor)
