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Message: 11
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:58:43 +0200
From: Museum Security Network Mailinglist <msn-list at te.verweg.com>

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 adopted 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.

 From Somalia, goods made of precious stones and hidden in graves  
said to be
over 10,000 years old were stolen.

Congo artefacts, which flooded Kenya at the height of the civil war that
ousted president Mobutu Sese Seko, comprised exquisite carvings and  
other
material looted from museums in the country.

FORMER NMK DIRECTOR DR George Abungu has faulted the Kenya legal  
system for
its lack of provisions to prohibit trafficking of artefacts.

Anthropologists also note that some high-ranking individuals at the  
NMK have
used their privileged positions to engage in this highly lucrative  
trade.

"We have had cases in the past when former high-ranking officials  
were known
to engage in the trade, especially at the height of the civil wars in
Ethiopia and Congo, which greatly tainted the institution's reputation,"
said Dr Mzalendo.

He also pointed at the large, monied NGO and expatriate population in  
Kenya,
whom he says are a good market for traffickers as they can use their
overseas contacts to export the material.

Said Dr Mzalendo: "We are aware of this, but have no legal authority  
to bar
the trade due to deficiency in the existing law. The new Museums Bill,
passed early this year has such a provision and is waiting presidential
assent; only when this is given can we deal legally with trafficking of
artefacts."

The Bill also addresses cases such as that of Lamu, which is currently
threatened by foreign developers buying out freehold property to cash  
in on
the island's prestige as a World Heritage Site.

The Bill prohibits any developments and allows limited rehabilitation  
of the
property being acquired from residents. "Until it becomes law, there  
is no
legal provision we can adopt against the trafficking or the holding  
of this
national treasure," said Dr Mzalendo.

http://allafrica.com/