Bob Collymore joins list of prominent people who chose to be cremated

The hearse carrying remains of the late Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore making its way to Kariokor Crematorium Centre on July 2, 2019. [Edward Kiplimo/Standard]

The remains of the former Safaricom boss Bob Collymore left Lee Funeral Home in Nairobi to Kariakor Crematorium for the last ritual today.

While ailing with leukemia (cancer of the blood), the late CEO once narrated to Citizen TV host Jeff Koinange how he submitted and accepted his fate. Collymore knew he was not going to make it and so he made a wish that would be fulfilled immediately upon his demise.

“Then you look at the options. You know I am one of the people who believe that when I die, I actually wanna be cremated pretty quickly,” Collymore posed to himself as was reported by The Standard on Tuesday.

And today, Bob’s body was cremated at Hindu Crematorium in Kariakor marking the fulfillment of his wish.

The Safaricom boss, who was a Guyana-born British businessman joins the ranks of other prominent people, most of them Kenyans who wished to be cremated upon their deaths.

On May 16, 2019, former Head of Civil Service Jeremiah Kiereini was cremated in a private family function where the media was locked out and funeral service held later on.

In April 2018, multi-party and second liberation hero Kenneth Matiba’s body was cremated at Lang’ata Crematorium. This was in line with his wishes made in 1994 when he urged his family to consider the ritual upon his death to avoid incurring costs.

Matiba was quoted saying that mourners should not be subjected to endless fundraisers because of his death.

“After all, the Kikuyu traditionally never buried their dead. They used to take the bodies into the forest to be devoured by hyenas. Was that not wisdom?”

At Kariakor crematorium was interred the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai in 2011. Maathai, who was an environmentalist is said to have made the wish as an effort to avoid the use of timber products during her burial.

In the list also are former Anglican Church Archbishop Manasses Kuria and his wife Mary Kuria who were both cremated eliciting debate on whether the practice has a place in Christianity.

One-time Peter Okondo was cremated  Kariokor in 1996, as did former Kenya National Sports Council Chairman Joshua Okuthe in 2009.

speaking to The Standard in 2018, Nairobi County senior funeral superintendent David Wanjohi said that the process usually involves subjecting the body to intense heat and reducing it into bone fragments.

Wanjohi said that there is always a fuel tank on the roof of the crematorium where the body is sprayed with diesel and ignited. The wooden coffin further aids the process. Then the smaller machine then crushes the remains.

He further explained that the relatives have the option of collecting the ashes, either storing them in an urn or disposing of them in any other way they deem necessary.

He told The Standard that the Lang’ata Crematorium serves few clients because the practice has not yet gained ground.

“We handle about 12 cremations a month. In the past, only whites would cremate their loved ones here, but now Africans are embracing cremation. Still, the majority are still skeptical about burning a body and would rather take the long and expensive journey to their ancestral homes,” said Wanjohi.