A new burial ground will soon be available for Nairobi residents to rest their loved ones since the 100-acre Lang'ata cemetery is full.
The Nairobi Metropolitan Services is buying land for that purpose in Mugumuini ward, also in Lang'ata sub-county.
The disclosure is in a response by NMS director-general Badi to queries of the National Assembly's Health Committee.
The NMS Lands directorate is yet to disclose the cost of the new graveyard.
Permanent graves for adults at Lang'ata cost Sh30,000, Sh4,000 for children and Sh2,000 for infants. Non-city residents part with Sh40,000.
Badi said they will install and commission a crematorium.
Lang'ata cemetery has been full for 20 years and City Hall has for years been looking for an alternative burial site.
In 2009, the defunct Nairobi City Council lost Sh283 million in a 48.5-acre cemetery deal in Mavoko. The actual value of the property was Sh24 million.
Senior officers, including former Local Government Permanent Secretary Sammy Kirui and former Town Clerk John Gakuo, were implicated and suspended.
Kirui and Gakuo were jailed for three years and fined Sh1 million each for their role in the cemetery land scandal.
Gakuo died on October 30, 2018, at Mbagathi Hospital where he had been admitted under tight security.
Kenya has 18 cremation centres, mainly used by people of Asian origin. The best known in Nairobi are Lang'ata, Hindu and Kariokor crematoriums.
Last April, City Hall said Nairobi residents with no rural homes may be forced to cremate their loved ones since Lang'ata cemetery was full and the county was yet to acquire land for a new one.
Health executive Hitan Majevdia said the county had at times been forced to "recycle" graves.
“In the cemetery, we have unmarked graves, those that do not have tombstones and are not frequently visited by families. There are other graves that have no claimants and are very old,” he said.
In 2018, the county said it planned to acquire 200 acres without specifying the location.
In 2017, City Hall said it intended to petition Parliament to allow it to use 67 acres of forest land near the Langa'ata cemetery as a graveyard.
This was after the Kenya Forest Service rejected its request to swap the filled-up cemetery with the forest.
KFS said the government allocated the City Council 50 acres in 1990s to expand the cemetery and asked City Hall to account for the land.
“Converting forest to other uses is tedious. It must be degazetted and this must pass [through] Parliament,” KFS natural forest conservation and management deputy director Charity Munyasia said.
City Hall said there were no records that the national government gave it 50 acres.
In the 2016-17 budget, the county government expressed interest in acquiring 120 acres for burials in Kitengela, Kajiado, and set aside Sh221 million for that purpose.
The proposed purchase was to be part of Coroner Services Unit. That is why it escaped notice during public hearings on the budget.
- mwaniki fm
