Lang'ata residents were outraged on Thursday when a private developer dug trenches at the cemetery exposing coffins and bones.
The developer has put up houses at the adjacent Royal Park estate and wants to discharge raw sewage through the open trenches.
A team from City Hall led by health executive Bernard Muia, area MCA Alex Otieno and officials from the Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company (NCWSC) visited the site on Wednesday.
Otieno said the diggers went all the way to the third layer, reaching bodies that were buried as long as five years ago.
“Bodies are burried in layers (at the Lang'ata Cemetery). The first layer is the deepest... bodies there have decomposed," he said.
The recommended grave depth is six feet but an attendant at the cemetery told the Star they were only digging up three feet to accommodate more bodies.
Muia termed the trenches a health hazard and the developers action "disrespect to resting souls".
“How can a private developer purchase land and build houses where souls are resting. This is against our culture and we will not allow it,” he said.
The executive said he will take the estate's welfare association to court if the trenches are not refilled in 24 hours.
"I will not sit at City Hall while cemetery land is grabbed,” he said.
Elijah Choti, the NCWSC official in charge of sewers, said the developer did not seek the company's approval before digging the trenches.
“There is a main sewer line is this area. The developer was simply required to apply for the houses or the state to be connected to it," he said. "What he is doing is illegal. We will make the trenches are refilled within 24 hours."
The graveyard was declared full 20 years ago but the city is yet to find a new site for burials; previous attempts resulted in a scandal.
Read: City Hall fails to get fresh grave yard to replace full Langata cemetery
Also read: With Seven billion people, we need land to bury our dead
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