Despite an uproar, Kisumu acting city manager Abala Wanga has affimed the city will not relent on banning burials at undesignated sites.
He refused to withdraw a public notice directing residents to only bury the dead in designated cemeteries or take them to crematoriums.
Continued burials will delay upgrading to city status and make it difficult to expand roads and build other amenities, the city boss said.
Wang said any breach be prosecuted. The ban has caused a public uproar with residents saying it was ill-advised and a violation of tradition.
The assembly committing on planning had asked Wanga for an explanation. Manyatta B MCA Pamela Odhiambo sought an explanation from the assembly.
“We cannot continue burying in the city,” Wanga said on Friday, adding that force will be used if necessary to ensure compliance.
“We are developing Mamboleo cemetery. We will demarcate two other cemeteries in Riat and Kibos," he said.
Wanga told residents and politicians to stop politicising the matter. He said Kisumu is Kenya's third largest city and a regional trading hub that must be well planned for services.
“It is high time to de-link Abala from unnecessary politics and focus on transforming the city for the well-being of residents," he said.
He praised the Hindu community for organising at their crematorium.
In a public notice dated March 2, Wanga said the city has identified and designated specific sites as official cemeteries and crematoria.
They included Mamboleo, Muslim cemetery and Hindu crematorium. He said levies charged for burials and cremations will be Sh2,000 for adults for ground only. He said the ground and dug grave will cost Sh3,000.
It will cost Sh1,500 for children for ground only; Sh2,000 for a grave.
Burials and cremations are prohibited in Mamboleo, Manyatta B, Market Milimani ward, Railways ward and Shaurimoyo Kaloleni ward.
Other prohibited areas include Kondele, Migosi and Nyalenda B wards.
“Residents of these areas are hereby notified of the prohibition of burial of bodies in unauthorised places," Wanga said.
Lawyer Joshua Nyamori said parts of Nyalenda, Manyatta, Obunga, Mamboleo, Kolwa, Kogony are ancestral villages, on freehold land.
“Legal and cultural reforms backed by a credible and well-orchestrated policy framework subjected to effective public participation, will be necessary before an attempt to regulate where and how to bury the dead in these areas,” he said.
Resident John Opiyo in Nyalenda said the public should be engaged before any ban.
“Nyalenda is our ancestral home. How can you prohibit us from burying our loved ones in our lands? That is unrealistic,” Opiyo said.
Mary Auma from Manyatta B also opposed the ban saying it was done without public participation. “We must respect the dead and give them a decent burial next to their loved ones,” she said.
Last year, Wanga said plans were underway to pass a law that will prohibit burials in the city.
He said families in Manyatta, Obunga, Nyalenda, and Bandani slums were burying their loved ones within the estates.
“This should not be the case. We are working on a bill in the assembly,” Wanga said.
He said the Kisumu City Board will work closely with the Assembly to enact a law prohibiting such burials.
Wanga urged residents in slum areas to bury their loved ones in the gazetted cemetery in Mamboleo or take them to their rural homes.
“Everybody who came to Kisumu must be ready to ferry their loved ones home for burial if they don’t want to bury at the cemetery,” Wanga said.
He said the upgrading to city status requires burials only in the cemeteries.
Wanga said plans for road expansion and other amenities may stall if burials within estates are not stopped.
He announced plans to draft waste management regulations that will ensure strict disposal of bodies and penalties for noncompliance.
(Edited by V. Graham)