Heritage Officer
Critics have accused Kenyan government officials of not only failing to legislate against the continued outflow of cultural artifacts, but also aiding in the looting and selling of valuable objects. Conservationists hope Kenya's new government, elected last December, will make stemming the trade a priority.
There are some positive signs. Government officials recently stopped the export of a rare art collection belonging to Kenya's second vice-president, Joseph Murumbi, which reportedly contained 700 items of cultural importance.
"[The change in government] has created an environment that's more conducive to discussing this issue and begin negotiations for repatriations of cultural objects," said Kibunjia.
But combating the trade is expensive. The appointment of a heritage officer to the Washington embassy is expected to cost Kenya about U.S. $350,000 a year—a hefty sum for a government that is flat broke.
The heritage officer's job will be to track down Kenya's artifacts and hopefully open negotiations for their return to East Africa. In some cases, universities or museums in the United States may want to return artifacts, but simply don't know to whom they should return them.
"There is no one following up on this," said Kibunjia. "We need someone specifically in charge of identifying where these items are."
Enforcing the Law
So far, words are yet to translate into action. Kenya has not signed the 1970 UNESCO convention on the illicit traffic of cultural goods. Ideally, Kibunjia says, the Kenyan government should not only sign the convention, but also negotiate bilateral treaties with the United States and other countries restricting the importation of cultural artifacts, something Mali has already done.
Enforcing the law is almost impossible. But some African conservationists believe many people in the United States and Europe are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with buying artifacts that may hold great spiritual value to Africans but are simple items of curiosity to Westerners.
Kibunjia hopes to see some of Kenya's artifacts returned soon. His employer, the National Museum of Kenya, located in the capital, Nairobi, is about to triple its exhibition space. "As I went through our inventory, I realized that we don't have enough stuff," Kibunjia said. "Much of our heritage is gone."
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