Why land along Kangundo Road will replace Lang’ata cemetery
Part of Lang'ata cemetery. Nairobi residents could soon be forced to travel outside the city to bury their loved ones.
Nairobi residents could soon be forced to travel outside the city to bury their loved ones.
This is because efforts by the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) to get land within Nairobi to replace the Lang'ata cemetery are proving futile.
NMS has been in negotiations with the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) since November last year to have the government agency excise part of its forest adjacent to Lang’ata cemetery to serve as a new burial ground.
Towards this, the Major General Mohamed Badi-led administration had even set aside a budget of Sh150 million in the current financial year for acquiring the 67-acre land.
Despite the ongoing negotiations, Mr Badi said that KFS is playing hard ball as it is not keen on losing part of its forest to serve as a burial site. The agency does not want to decrease tree coverage and green spaces in Nairobi.
Alternative site
Mr Badi disclosed that should the negotiations fail, then the county’s 10-acre piece of land along Kangundo Road can act as an alternative site in a worst case scenario.
“If KFS doesn’t come on board, we have land available which is under our control. We have a standby area towards Kangundo Road which is over 10 acres. So, if we decided to utilise the land, people will be forced to travel 15 kilometres outside Nairobi,” said Mr Badi.
Nonetheless, the NMS boss pointed out that they have not fully settled on the Kangundo Road land because of its location as it would be an extra burden for those intending to bury their loved ones.
He explained that they are still talking with KFS on how NMS can plant trees to compensate for the land being sought from the forests agency.
"The biggest challenge with KFS is they don’t want to decrease their tree cover and as such, it will be very difficult to convince KFS," he said.
Swap request rejected
In 2017, City Hall failed in its attempts to convince KFS to part with its land near the Lang’ata cemetery, with the agency rejecting the request to swap the filled-up cemetery with the forest land.
The 100-acre Lang'ata cemetery has been full for 20 years, although Mr Badi insists there is still some burial space. The current situation has forced families to bury their loved ones in shallow graves, thus failing to meet the recommended six-foot depth.
An appeal by City Hall for residents to embrace cremation has not been embraced, with the numbers of burials rising as cremations dip.
In 2019, City Hall warned Nairobi residents that they could be forced to transport their loved ones to their rural homes for burial if they do not embrace cremation.
The search for an alternative graveyard in Nairobi started more than 10 years ago.
In 2009, the defunct Nairobi City Council lost Sh283 million in a 48.5-acre cemetery and deal in Mavoko. The land’s actual value was just Sh24 million.
Jailed
A number of senior national government and county council officers were implicated in the scandal, with the late former Nairobi town clerk John Gakuo and former local government permanent secretary Sammy Kirui being charged and jailed.
In the financial year ending June 30, 2017, City Hall set aside Sh221 million for the purchase of a 120-acre piece of land in Kitengela, Kajiado County to be used for burials.
In the 2018/2019 financial year, City Hall again set aside Sh200 million for the acquisition of an extra 200 acres of land to serve as a public cemetery, but nothing came out of the plan.
