A decision by renowned paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey to shift the construction of a Sh8.2 billion museum to a new site in Loodariak in Kajiado County has sparked protests from the Turkana County government amid claims of cultural heritage rights loss.
The facility, which is aimed at boosting knowledge on human evolution, was initially marked for construction in Turkana’s Ngaren area on the Lothagam ranges near the Kenyan border with Ethiopia.
The Lothagam ranges are popular worldwide following the discovery of the best-preserved fossils of man’s ancient ancestors there — including the most complete skeleton of an early human known as Turkana Boy.
The museum project team said it opted to move facility from Turkana due to poor transport access to the remote site.
“Although major fossil finding and the Turkana Base Institute are oriented around Lake Turkana, Ngaren, the museum cannot be built there. After mapping the area and looking into infrastructure and economic value for Kenya’s tourism and travel industry, Turkana as a location is logistically impractical,” the museum project liaison officer for Kenya and the Netherlands, Karin Boomsma, told the Business Daily in an interview.
“Over time Ngaren has been focused on creating the right content for a life changing experience with science and the topics of natural history, evolution and human origin.”