The Nakuru South Cemetery has been closed permanently.

This announcement was made through a public notice issued by the Nakuru County Directorate of Public health with the words ‘Maximum holding Capacity’ plastered on the poster.

This notice follows the surfacing of a video making rounds on the internet, showing what is believed to be human remains exhumed from the Nakuru South cemetery and stashed in sacks.

However, the Nakuru County administration, through its Health executive Roselyn Mungai, refuted the claims.

Freshly dug up graves at Nakuru South cemetery on November 28, 2024.

Photo credit: PURITY KINUTHIA/MTAA WANGU

In a previous phone call interview, Ms Mungai had acknowledged the cemetery filling up, noting that the practice has been to find space between the existing graves at the cemetery.

“No bodies are being dug up. However, the team at the cemetery has been creating space by digging in between graves to get spaces for other graves. Over time, the chance of you finding remains is getting higher. However, no exhumations have been done,” she said at the time.

However, the county seemed to change tune barely 24 hours later, leading to the release of the poster.

On November 28, Mtaa Wangu made a spot check at the cemetery.

There, we were met with fresh and shallow graves, with coffins and even clothes of the dead peeping through some of the holes, confirming the concerns that had been shared online.

An open grave showing a coffin after grave digger dug up new graves at the South cemetery on November 28, 2024.

Photo credit: PURITY KINUTHIA/MTAA WANGU

Other than that, we stumbled upon human remains, hidden behind large sisal plants. The remains were less than 50 metres from the open graves.

A resident who spoke to Mtaa Wangu at the site, Kevin Kamau, says the bones were allegedly exhumed by the grave diggers working here.

“We are surprised to see the county acting as if they did not know this was happening here. As residents, we have been worried that we would get infections from these exhumations,” an angry Kamau says.

Kevin Kamau a resident explaining what has been happening at the south cemetery on November 28, 2024.

Photo credit: PURITY KINUTHIA/MTAA WANGU

Despite these findings, the CEC insists that no exhumations happened at the cemetery.

Asked what informed more burials being allowed at the cemetery despite it filling up years ago, she notes that families opt to lay to rest their family members at the cemetery, due to its proximity to the city.

Ms Mungai further notes that the county has other cemeteries, but many shy away from utilizing them because of the logistics attached to this.

“We are encouraging members of the public to utilize other cemeteries within the county. We will no longer authorize any burials at the South Cemetery. More to it, the digging up has also been put to a stop,” she says firmly.

The mentioned cemeteries available for use are Elburgon Maishani, Molo, Rongai Town, Rongai Shalom, Gilgil Town, Kiungureria (Gilgil), Longonot (Naivasha) and Njoro.

Inside dramatic events that led to closure of Nakuru South Cemetery

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Purity Kinuthia