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{
    "id": 1278064,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1278064/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 84,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Tharaka, UDA",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. George Murugara",
    "speaker": null,
    "content": " Thank you very much, Hon. Temporary Speaker. I rise to support the Motion by Hon. Felix Odiwuor alias Jalang'o. He is a well-known legislator in the country and a media personality. A short history of Langata Cemetery is that it was the only cemetery set aside since the advent of colonialism for burial rituals. As you know very well, Africans did not bury their dead. It does not surprise many to hear that hyenas are feasting on dead bodies because that was the norm in those days. Dead bodies were a recipe for hyenas. If you carefully look at Langata Cemetery, it is segregated as it was then. There was a section for Europeans and Asians. The Africans were allocated the far-flung corner, where not many bodies were buried there in those days. The European section was the first area to be overused while the Asians cremated their dead. Eventually, Africans adopted the practice of burial. Since they were many, this overstretched the land available for burials. What the Europeans do today, which I have witnessed, is reuse their graves. This is common practice in the European culture. If a father died long ago, followed by the mother and children, they are all buried in one grave by recouping the soil. The Asians have taken up cremation, while Africans are now overstretching the piece of land available to them. As a result, there are no procedures. If they are there, they are not well planned. That is why we have shallow graves to bury bodies. If you are not careful, two things will happen. Hyenas will feast on dead bodies if coffins are not well done. You must be careful if you use a very good coffin at Langata Cemetery. The following day you may find your relative's body outside because a thief snatched the coffin. The practice is quite common. Those are the horror stories we hear about Langata Cemetery. The government needs to look at the issue of cemeteries. We have other nearby towns which possibly have land that can be set aside for burials for us to give our people dignified send-offs. Kiambu is one such town. There was a time when there was a hue and cry about grabbing the cemetery land in Kiambu. There is an interesting story of a Member of Parliament who defected in the 1990s, and he was rewarded with a piece of land which eventually was traced to the Kiambu Cemetery. This is how uncaring we are as regards how we treat dead people. That we can give out land set aside for them is unimaginable. As a result, we now crowd the Langata Cemetery burying people in an unplanned and undignified manner. That is un-African. As I sum up, we should extend graveside planning into the countryside. There is a bad practice of cementing graves in the countryside. The consequence is that in 50 years, we will have no arable land because we filled our land with cemented graves. That is not good practice. It should be discouraged. The county governments and the national government should come up with acceptable policies on burials and gravesides. With those remarks, I support."
}