[MSN] KENYA'S CAMPAIGN TO recover hundreds of artefacts from museums and private collections abroad has gained new impetus with the promise of support by US Senator Barrack Obama last month.

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Bringing Country's Culture Back Home 

The East African (Nairobi) 
NEWS
October 17, 2006 
Posted to the web October 17, 2006 

By JOHN KARIUKI
Nairobi 

KENYA'S CAMPAIGN TO recover hundreds of artefacts from museums and private
collections abroad has gained new impetus with the promise of support by US
Senator Barrack Obama last month. 

At a recent meeting with National Museums of Kenya officials in Washington,
Senator Obama agreed to support the NMK's initiative, which includes
formulation of a joint agreement between Nairobi and Washington to stop
trading and holding of Kenyan artefacts in the US. 

Senior officials of the National Museums who met the US Senator in
Washington said his support was a crucial step towards repatriation of
hundreds of artefacts from Kenya that have been sold in the US by
international traffickers. 

"The agreement will outlaw sale or possession of such material; so those
holding artefacts have no alternative but to return them to Kenya," said Dr
Kibunja Mzalendo, director of regional museums, sites and monuments at the
National Museum. His department is heading the search for Kenya artefacts
abroad. 

He pointed out that there is already a similar agreement between the US and
Mali that has effectively contained trafficking of artefacts from the West
African nation. "Ours will be based on a similar concept," said Dr Mzalendo.


High on the list of the items whose return is sought by Kenya are the
stuffed skins of the two Maneaters of Tsavo now at the Chicago Field Museum.


Dr Mzalendo, however, noted that the trophies were legally acquired by the
Chicago Museum as it bought them from the British engineer Colonel J.H.
Paterson who shot the two lions after they had killed 20 coolies working on
the construction of the Mombasa railway in the late 1890s. 

Paterson took the skins back to England. But he went broke and, in 1923,
sold the skins to the Chicago Field Museum for $5,000, which was a huge sum
at the time. "It was a legitimate deal, certainly; what we are asking is for
the museum to loan us the skins for public exhibition so that Kenyans can
have a chance to see these famous lions," said Dr Mzalendo. 

So far, the story of the two lions has inspired a best-selling book by Col
Paterson and a 1996 movie, The Ghost and the Darkness, filmed in South
Africa. 

"There are also a total 25 documentaries based on the same story," said Jean
Hartley of Viewfinders Production, which specialises in wildlife films shot
in Kenya. 

The two trophies are not the only legally acquired Kenyan artefacts abroad
that the country can now acquire on loan or buy back from their current
overseas owners. 

The British Museum still holds a significant treasure trove of Kenyan
artefacts, some of which it offered on loan to the NMK for the Hazina
exhibition currently on show in Nairobi until March next year. Last year,
the British Museum returned several maps to the Survey of Kenya, but many
more are still being held in its archives. 

A good number of the artefacts stolen from Kenya are in museums abroad, but
the country needs to undertake a thorough search to identify what is being
held where. 

The NMK has petitioned the government to appoint heritage officers to key
overseas embassies to help in tracking of artefacts now owned by museums and
private collectors in the US and Europe. 

Though the case of the Maneaters of Tsavo is just one of those being pursued
by the NMK, it should provide valuable pointers to the way ahead. "The talks
with the Chicago Field Museum are already at an advanced stage and we hope
to have the lions here by early next year," said Dr Mzalendo. 

HIS DEPARTMENT HAS adapted the diplomatic approach to repatriation of
artefacts due to the complex nature of the issues involved. "Other
countries, notably Ethiopia and South Africa, have used persuasion rather
than litigation with good results. We too believe it is the best approach,"
said Dr Mzalendo. 

While this kind of arrangement is possible with major institutions, dealing
with private collectors can be a lot more complex, since many are reluctant
to surrender the items in their possession. "We have considered buying back
the artefacts where possible, although this depends on the price, of course.
So, even with private individuals, loaning the items to us is the easier
option at the moment," he said. 

He would prefer that the items are returned permanently, but collectors who
have a strong attachment to their possessions are unlikely to part freely
with them. 

The complexity and sensitivity of the whole issue is illustrated by the
recent case of the two vigango stolen from the family of Kalume Mwakiru of
Kaloleni in Kenya's Coast Province. A kigango is a three-foot high memorial
post covered in ceremonial carvings. One kigango was returned by the
Illinois State Museum in a significant achievement for Kenya's
anthropologists fighting for the retrieval of stolen historical and cultural
treasure. The kigango was handed over to the Minister of National Heritage
Suleiman Shakombo by Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich on September 4. 

According to a research article, the cost of erecting a kigango is between
Ksh15,000 ($202) and Ksh16,000 ($216) and so an installation does not
usually take place until the family of the deceased experiences misfortune.
An installed kigango is interpreted as an incarnation of the deceased - it
is interceded with and given palm wine. It is a common belief among the
MijiKenda that if the rituals are not followed, the spirits of the dead will
come back to haunt the family and, worse still, whoever tampered with them
suffered misfortune. 

The two vigango erected by Kalume Mwakiru were meant to honour his dead
brothers after the family had suffered a series of misfortunes - death of
livestock and poor harvests. But in 1985, two years after the memorials were
erected, they were stolen. It is believed that the theft was instigated by
an American collector who paid a member of the Mwakirus' Miji Kenda
community to steal them. 

Experts say thieves can sell a kigango to Kenyan souvenir shops for around
$50; American collectors pay between $1,500 and $6,000 for one, depending on
its size. 

ONE OF THE MWAKIRU Vigango was sold to actor, Powers Boothe in California,
who donated it to Illinois State University. The university closed its
museum and transferred its collection to the Illinois State Museum in
Springfield in 2001. 

Luckily, an American anthropologist doing research in Kenya had photographed
Mwakiru standing alongside the memorials just before they were stolen. The
photos appeared in a 2003 issue of the journal American Anthropologist and
were later to provide proof of ownership. 

Early this year, the anthropologist spotted one during a slide presentation
at a conference on African studies and alerted the family, who wrote to the
Illinois State Museum, asking that it be returned, and stating that their
luck had deserted them after the theft of the vigango. The museum
immediately investigated and decided to return them. 

"This memorial post is part of Kenya's cultural traditions, and it belongs
to the Mwakiru family. It should be reunited with its rightful owners," said
Governor Blagojevich at the handover. "The Illinois State Museum acted
promptly and worked with the Kenyan government to make sure this important
piece of a family's history and tradition was returned to the place where it
belongs." 

The kigango's official transfer marked the first time any stolen historical
object has been returned to Kenya, according to Idle Farah, director general
of NMK. 

"The world must be able to see (Kenya's) cultural diversity," Dr Farah said.
"But this must be done with respect for our communities." 

But the story did not end there. The second Mwakiru kigango turned out to be
owned by Hampton University in Virginia, which refused to return the post to
Kenya, arguing that it was legally acquired and that it had no proof of
Mwakiru's ownership. 

Last week, the return of the kigango to the family featured prominently in
the Kenyan press. The Hampton University had apparently bowed to media
pressure in the US. But, said Dr Mzalendo, "It was returned on loan because
the American buyers argued that it was acquired legally." 

A study in 2003 showed there were 300 vigango in America and the number may
be close to 400 by now. The majority of the memorial vigango erected in
Kenya have been stolen, according to the anthropologists. 

Two years ago a British collector approached the Kenyan High Commission in
London for assistance in buying a wide range of collector items from Kenya. 

They included old town maps, military uniforms used in the two World Wars,
coins and dozens of other items. The High Commission forwarded the request
to the NMK, which, realising the implications, raised the alarm. 

Kiprop Lagat of the Department of Ethnography said the preservation of
cultural heritage is complicated by the fact that much of it is still
privately-owned in Kenya and owners realise the financial value it holds
among collectors. "The owners live in rural areas; poverty has forced them
to sell off invaluable cultural items to foreign buyers," he said. 

He noted that the government does not allocate funds to the NMK to buy the
items being held by various communities in Kenya. And in the isolated cases
where NMK has sought to buy the artefacts, it has found itself unable to
compete with the high prices offered by foreigners. 

In a typical case, the NMK attempted to acquire a valuable item that formed
part of the ceremonial regalia used by the Njuri Njeke traditional courts in
Meru; they backed off when the owner quoted a price of Ksh2 million
($27,400). "We believe that is the price offered to the owner by a Japanese
collector who was also interested in the item," he said. 

Shortly after Independence, the Kenya government allocated funds to the NMK
for buying artefacts from communities, but the funds dried up and there are
still many valuable items in private possession. "These are private property
and the rise in poverty has forced owners to sell them to foreign
collectors," said Mr Lagat 

In another intriguing case, the former director of the Kenya National
Archives Dr Maina Kagombe told The EastAfrican, documents on the Hola
Massacre - one of the most gruesome atrocities committed during the British
rule - which had been reported destroyed, were traced to the Hoover
Institute in the US. The colonial administration had destroyed most
documents related to the massacre, but some had been apparently been stored
on microfilm and secretly sold to the Hoover Institute in the US. 

Dr Kagombe said he had successfully negotiated the return of the microfilms,
but the management of the Hoover Institute was reluctant to post them,
fearing that they would get lost, and insisted that Kenya send a senior
official to collect them. "But I was moved from the archives and there was
nobody to follow up the matter," said Dr Kagombe. 

He said that other items being held in the US include archaeological
material at the Berkley University in California and other institutions.
Originally, the NMK had considered filing legal suits to recover the
materials but was dissuaded by the high cost of taking such cases to
overseas courts. 

But even as Kenya, steps up its campaign to recover lost treasure of
artefacts, the country is itself blamed for abetting the trafficking of
items looted from Ethiopia, Somalia and Congo during the civil wars in those
countries. 

Religious manuscripts said to be thousands of years old were looted from the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church during the civil war that led to the ouster of
president Mengistu Haile Mariam.