Grave problem at City Hall

Controversy is brewing at City Hall over plans to acquire land for a new public cemetery.

The Nairobi City Council has been searching for an alternative site because Lang’ata Cemetery is full. The council has settled on a parcel of land but its own technical officials is unsuitable because of the soil type and difficulty of access.

Treasury released a Sh200 million cheque to the council last December 15 to pay for the land; the total price is Sh350 million.

Soil types

The site at Mlolongo is located 10 kilometres off the nearest gazetted road, and the black cotton soil is easily washed away by rain. Red volcanic soil is normally preferred for cemeteries.

Efforts to obtain a comment from City Hall have been unsuccessful. By the time of going to press, outgoing Town Clerk John Gakuo had not responded to our inquiries.

Mr Peter Kibinda, the director of city planning, was unwilling to see visitors when the Sunday Nation went to his office.

Correspondence seen by the Sunday Nation shows that two members of the technical evaluation team had advised the council against acquiring land for a cemetery.

In a memo to the council’s chairman of the technical evaluation team dated November 11, 2008, deputy director of planning P.T. Odongo and assistant director forward planning section J.K. Earreh said; “we have applied our good conscience, common sense and professional mind to the above matter and have only one advice to give — the evaluation process did not get any suitable site for land meant for cemetery use,” the two officials wrote.

Another memo to the town clerk written by Mr Kibinda noted that all respondents had offered land “that, due its location, soil profile, accessibility status and other environmental conditions, was unsuitable and inappropriate for cemetery use”.

In the past several months due to a shortage of space at Lang’ata cemetery, Nairobi residents have had to wait until graves dug 45 years ago were emptied of their contents before burying their loved ones in them.

The council has been considering a number of options, including buying additional land on the periphery of Nairobi.

Cemeteries around Nairobi, which are managed by City Hall, are reported to be handling 20 to 30 burials a day, far more than projected.

The problem has been exacerbated by changes in traditional burial practices as harsh economic conditions force individuals to bury their dead in Nairobi instead of transporting them up-country.

Those living in surrounding towns like Thika, Machakos and other satellite areas have also been blamed for the current plight.

They prefer modern corpse storage facilities at funeral homes located within the city and end up burying their dead in cemeteries in Nairobi to cut down on expenses.