Nairobi Chief Officer for Public Health, Tom Nyakaba, has announced that the county has secured 100 acres at Kamiti Prison and an additional 50 acres at Embakasi Garrison to ease pressure on the overstretched Lang’ata Cemetery.

 Nyakaba, who was before the Nairobi County Assembly Committee yesterday told the MCAs that the new sites are being prepared and will soon be available for public use.

“We have secured 100 acres at Kamiti Prison and 50 acres at Embakasi Garrison to serve as new burial sites. These spaces are being prepared and will be ready for use shortly,” he said.

 The Chief Officer also addressed the longstanding controversy around the 48-acre cemetery land in Mavoko, Machakos County, clarifying that the county does not have full control over it.

 “The Mavoko land, as you are aware, was procured before devolution. Once devolution took effect, every county became responsible for burying its own people. Given that this land is outside Nairobi, it is now up to Governor Sakaja and the Machakos Governor to align on how the land will be used. We don’t have express authority over that land because the title is not under Nairobi County,” Nyakaba explained.

 He further clarified that Nairobi’s cemeteries are organised to serve different communities and that there is no bias in space allocation.

 “The vision of the cemetery is that we have different burial sites for different people. This does not only apply to Lang’ata but to all cemeteries in the county. At Forest Road, we have given a substantial space to the Jewish community,” Nyakaba noted

 “At Lang’ata, the part in question is a Muslim section, and that matter has already been handled at the highest level. The correct position is that it’s part of the Muslim cemetery, and the Muslim land is already secured,” he added.

 The Chief Officer further noted that Nairobi currently has nine cemeteries, most of which are community-based.

 These include Wangari Mathai Road, Pangani, Mutuini, Uthiru, Southlands, Kariokor Christian, Ruai, and land near the National Police Service. He said the county is working to bring all of them under unified management to ease pressure on Lang’ata.

 Nyakaba also raised concern about the lack of burial policies or regulations, saying this has created confusion and poor planning.

 “We don’t have any law defining how we bury people. Even the belief that people should be buried six feet deep is just a wrong assumption; it’s not written anywhere. Nairobi City County had to come up with its own by-laws and a burial policy to guide this process,” he said.