Kisii county Governor, Simba Arati wants Kenyans to embrace cremation as a way of disposing of the remains of their loved ones.
According to the governor, this follows the rise in cases of family land disputes derailing burials in the area.
Despite the cultural shift the idea brings, the former Member of Parliament insists that it could be the only way to go.
"We may result in cremation, it's not our tradition, it's not our culture but we don't have space. People must learn that that's the way to go," said Arati.
Noting that it was a weighty matter, Arati blamed the situation on the ongoing legal land cases regarding the county cemetery.
Speaking to the press on Wednesday, November 2, a mortuary attendant at the County Teaching and Referral Hospital detailed how in some instances, bodies were prepared and arrangements made only for them to be returned.
"It reaches a point, that the families buy a coffin and have the body dressed and prepared. The minute the body is ferried out, a court order is issued to stop the whole arrangement."
An instance of such a case is the protest against the burial of a woman after two groups claimed ownership of the land.
For a morgue that houses a maximum of 72 bodies, the county hospital is currently holding 130 bodies, 21 of which are lying behind for lack of land to bury them.
Joseph Mainga, the man in charge of the morgue said the issue is serious as bodies are piling up in the morgue.
"A body should follow the normal procedure of burial it shouldn't stay in the morgue. A body staying in the mortuary for a long period of time is very bad and owners are there," he explained.
However, the issue of overstretched morgues is not only limited to Kisii county. At the Kenyatta National Hospital, KNH, the management issued a 21-day ultimatum to Kenyans to collect over 200 unclaimed bodies.
According to KNH, the hospital is holding 217 bodies of infants, as it seeks permission to dispose them.
