Has Kinondoni Cemetery run out of burial ground – or not?

What that suggested was that only families, communities or individuals who had “booked” space in the graveyard would have any hope of finding room there. The rest, in their millions, had no option but to settle for space elsewhere – including at sites on the outskirts of the city.

Quite strangely, burials have continued to be held at the Kinondoni Cemetery to as recently as yesterday, and it has not been at the so-called VIP “wing”.
What is even more surprising is that the ministerial, municipal, cemetery or other authorities concerned do not appear to have seen or felt the need to keep the stunned public posted on the situation on the ground.

One consequence of this lack of relevant information is that it is now rumour upon rumour in the city and beyond with respect to what is actually going on and why.

For instance, there is a rumour making the rounds that the cemetery indeed ran out of public burial space as long ago as when announced well over a decade ago and that any graves dug there since that time are but “mere replacements”.

Now, this suggests that there is demand for the re-use of grave sites within the cemetery – which, by extension, makes it necessary to literally mount new graves on old and supposedly forgotten ones or exhuming whatever remains in the old graves for subsequent relocation.

But there is ample evidence from our very own country and from many other parts of the world that he re-use of burial space already used for burial, and therefore necessitating the relocation of the remains of the dead, can cause be considerably disconcerting.

Our sister paper, The Guardian on Sunday, found in a recent survey that there is such a bewildering shortage of handy graveyards in Dar es Salaam that some bodies are often buried on top of those buried months or years earlier as the authorities helplessly look on.

Kinondoni Cemetery was easily cited as the most notorious, the other burial sites in the city also affected being at Mwananyamala kwa Kopa, Mburahati, Magomeni, Kisutu, Upanga, Sinza kwa Remi, Hananasif, Chang’ombe and Temeke Wailesi.

As if this was not bad enough, or so the survey showed, cemeteries in Dar es Salaam are no longer the ‘sacred’ places they used to be regarded as – what with all manner of criminal activities going on deep inside graveyards.

The way one’s loved ones are laid to rest is no joking matter. That is precisely why the way cemeteries are treated makes immense difference in society in communities where respect for human dignity still has pride of place.

Tanzania remains one such civilised and caring “community”, which makes us feel compelled to demand that the relevant authorities answer this question: Has Kinondoni Cemetery run out of burial space or hasn’t it?

Endnote: And the answer should general enough to relate to the state and status of cemeteries in all our urban areas and across the country.