[CPProt.net] Nairobi: Crisis At the Museum

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Crisis At the Museum 

The East African (Nairobi) 
NEWS
April 4, 2005 
Posted to the web April 6, 2005 

By John Kariuki
Nairobi 

Not only are top scientists at the National Museums of Kenya leaving for greener pastures, but the cash-strapped institution finds itself unable to check the flow of historical artefacts out of the country 

THE NATIONAL MUSEUMS of KENYA is in a multifaced crisis. Not only are low pay, lack of research funds and poor working conditions driving away its researchers, it has been forced to watch helplessly as large chunks of the country's historical legacy are spirited out of Kenya. 

The irony is not only that this "history drain" is taking place because the Museums don't have the funds to compete with the foreign buyers. The drain is also endangering the Museums' plans to become self-sustaining by establishing a permanent historical exhibition - once funds become available. 

Last year, the European Union offered the Museums a Ksh600 million ($7.9 million) grant but only on condition that it was given complete autonomy. 

This was meant to improve pay and improve working conditions for the various categories of professionals. A draft Bill on the proposed autonomy was forwarded to the National Assembly, where it has been lying for close to a year. 

Senior officials at the Museums recently said they were optimistic that the Bill would be presented to the current session of parliament, which has just begun. 

However, an official at the National Museums headquarters was sceptical about the Bill's chances of becoming law any time soon. "It requires three readings before it is passed and at the current pace, even if it were read in the current session of Parliament, we would be looking at its implementation next year," said one official. He would not, however, disclose how many senior researchers were still left at the institution. 

Besides improving salaries, the EU grant was also meant to finance a new, permanent exhibition hall to display items of historical value to Kenya. The permanent exhibition was expected to make the museums a more attractive place for visitors both local and foreign. 

Museums are a major attraction for tourism globally and a new exhibition would in the long run boost the viability of the National Museums of Kenya as a self-supporting entity. 

However, researchers warn that international traffickers are already targeting items that are crucial for such an exhibition. They include medals handed to Kenya's World War II veterans, their military uniforms and maps of old towns drawn before 1945. 

THIS MASSIVE ACQUIS-ition of historical items by overseas museums was brought to the attention of the Museums last year by foreign collectors who sent inquiries for a long list of new category of artefacts from East Africa being sought by international collectors. 

It only became apparent when individuals started making enquiries at the Department of Ethnography at the Museums, trying to sell medals and other items on the overseas requests list. 

"The Kenya World War II veterans wanted Ksh5,000 ($64) per medal but we had no budget for it," said Evans Kiprop, head of the Ethnography department. He said that the last time the National Museums had such a budget was in the 1970s, and has not made any acquisitions since. 

Kiprop said he also heard about an intended sale of a collection of the regalia used by elders presiding over the hearings at the Njuri Njeke, a traditional court in the Meru culture. "It would have formed an important part of our collection but we could not raise the Ksh5 million [$64,000] the seller was asking for," he said. "I later learnt that a Japanese art collector had offered Ksh2 million ($26,000), but the seller was adamant about his original price tag." 

Kiprop said that, with the poverty afflicting most Kenyans, especially in rural areas, those with material that can be sold will gladly sell it. 

The extent of the quest for Kenyan historical material is noted in the increase of inquiries by museums and their agents. 

Late last year, the Kenya High Commission in London forwarded a letter to the National Museums of Kenya that had been received from Afribilia Ltd - a renowned dealer in African artefacts - requesting contacts for a similar catalogue of Kenyan artefacts. 

It was handed to the office of Kibunja Mzalendo, Director of Regional Museums, Sites and Monuments, who promptly advised on the inherent dangers. 

"We made a request for a budgetary allocation to buy items because most of them are in the private ownership of veterans and need to be paid for. But we never received the allocation," said Dr Mzalendo. 

Sources in the ethnography department said that a lot of these items have already left the country and will continue to do so unless the National Museums can allocate funds to buy those in private ownership. Thousands of Kenyans were in World War II, as soldiers or carrier corps, and still hold uniforms, medals and other military gear being sought by collectors. 

Last year, the Survey of Kenya had to lobby the British government to hand back old towns maps that the institution considered important for historical records. 

"The British government agreed to hand over the maps free of charge; we only paid for the flight. But there are still more of them out there that we would like to get" said Boaz Omondi, senior assistant director at the Survey of Kenya. 

He said that such maps are important for documenting history and growth of the country's urban centres. 

There is also doubt about the fate of a huge consignment of materials from the Mau Mau freedom fighters - including uniforms and weapons - that was handed to the late president Mzee Jomo Kenyatta in 1963 at Ruringu Stadium in Nyeri (a battlefield in the Mau Mau war). 

Kiprop said that the material should have been kept at the Museums but his department was unable to trace it. There are a few guns, but he said he believed that the bulk of the material may have been stolen and smuggled out of the country. "I had hoped that this would be a permanent exhibition on its own," he said. 

Trafficking in historical material is not new to Kenya, and a lot of the country's legacy is already in overseas galleries. 

Among the popular items are the two stuffed hides of the man-eating lions of Tsavo (featured in the Hollywood film,The Ghost and Darkness) who terrorised workers during the building of the Kenya-Uganda railway at the turn of the 19th century, and are also the subject of a bestselling book by Colonel Patterson (the British engineer in charge of the construction). 

COLONEL PATTERSON sold them to the British Museum, which later sold them to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, where they have been a major tourist attraction. 

John Chipsumba, a Kenyan who has worked at the Chicago Museum, said that most of the estimated five million visitors to that open air museum are attracted by the two lions. 

The Hoover Institute (in the US) is also believed to be holding a sizeable amount of crucial historical material that disappeared from Kenya soon after independence. 

Contacted, Dr Maina Kagombe, who once headed the Kenya National Archives, said that some of the material is in microfilm and relates to the 1950s and would be an eye-opener about the atrocities committed by the British during the colonial era. 

Dr Kagombe said that he had persuaded the institute to return the material, which it did after long negotiations, but would only entrust it to him and in fact wanted him to travel to the US to collect it. 

But he was sacked from the Kenya National Archives before he could make the trip, and the issue was not pursued thereafter. It now unlikely that the material will be returned. 

An assistant archivist for reference at the Hoover Institute, Carol Leadenham, told The EastAfrican via e-mail that it would be illegal to return the material. "We sign an agreement with our suppliers to safeguard the material we get and as such it would be illegal to surrender it," she said. 

This new position is shared by several other overseas museums holding Kenyan material and the issue of repatriation has become all the more complicated following the establishment of what are now called Universal Museums, claiming to secure material for humanity. 

Said Kiprop, "They have this argument that they are more competent to secure such material and this has seriously affected any efforts to repatriate the items from Kenya and other Third World countries." 

He says that the only choice is to buy back the stolen treasures or at least try to mop up what is still in the country. 

"It's all about money," he added. 

Meanwhile, the exodus of senior researchers has sparked panic and the management is lobbying for funds to at least pay salaries. 

Previously, scientist would wait for an opportunity for overseas appointments but the pay hike for academic staff at the local universities has created a new avenue that is attractive to some of the Museums' best brains. 

"We can no longer afford the cost of doing research in our designated fields, including collecting artefacts and other items of historic importance to the country," said a source. 

http://allafrica.com/