"Bring back our fossil"- Baringo residents demand the remains of second oldest man

Prof Brigite Senut (left) and Dr Martin Pickford (right), French researchers who took part in the excavation of Orrorin fossils when they held a meeting with the locals at the Kipsaraman Community Museum the in a bid to revive the stalled museumrecently. The residents are demanding the return of the fossils which were taken by officials from the Community Museums of Kenya (CMK).

When the second oldest man’s fossil in the world (orrorin tugenenis) was discovered in Baringo County 26 years ago, hopes were high among locals.

A spot-check by The Standard however established that residents have nothing to show for the landmark discovery of the fossil after it was taken away from its original home in Kipsaraman Community Museum in Baringo North Sub-County by officials from the Community Museums of Kenya (CMK), allegedly for safe keeping.

The Community is now demanding that the fossil, whose discovery made headlines be taken back to its original home.

The residents complained that the government was generating alot from donors and researchers but the locals were wallowing in abject poverty.

The residents led by Orrorin Community Organization (OCO) secretary Micah Cherutoi said the remains of the six-million-year-old hominid discovered at Kapsomin area in Kipsaraman division in 2000 were carted off by officials from the Community Museums of Kenya.

"The Community is not certain where the remains of Orrorin are kept, we only hear rumours that it is stored in a bank fault where the government is raking millions of shillings from researchers at the expense of the Community,” Mr Cherutoi claimed.

The residents complained that following the discovery of the fossil at Rondinin area in Kipsaraman division they were promised a lot of goodies.

"They promised to construct a university through the Japanese government at Kabarsero and a Community water dam at Yatyanin at a cost of Sh5 million, apart from creating education and employment opportunities for our children, but all this has remained to be a pipe dream,” Mr Joseph Cheserem who has volunteered to be the care taker of the museum told The Standard.

The aggrieved residents said that following the discovery of the fossils, more than 4,000 people including school children and other organized groups used to tour the museum every year but none tours the facility now.

The residents appealed to the government to intervene to ensure that the fossil is returned since it was a community resource meant to benefit them.

According to the aggrieved residents, many governments were ready fund scientific research and support Community projects if only they will get support from the Kenyan government

Baringo County Governor Benjamin Cheboi acknowledged that CMK went against an agreement with the Community that all fossils collected from the area were to be stored in Baringo.

 

“We are now demanding that the fossil be returned to its ancestral home failure to which we will seek legal redress,” threatened Cheboi.

“The new constitutional dispensation recognizes that public resources should benefit the community, and the Orrorin tugenensis fossil is our resource,” he added.

Baringo County is rich in fossils with another more than 70,000 other fossils already discovered.

According to Cheboi, if the museum is revived, Baringo county will compete with other counties like Nairobi.

"The orrorin fossil should be returned to its original home so that the people benefit from the revenue generated from it directly,” the Governor said.

Kipsaraman Community Museum collapsed in 2003 when CMK officials differed with donor agencies and other stakeholders over alleged misappropriation of funds.

The Orrorin fossil was discovered by two paleontologists, Brigit Senut and Dr Martin Pickford in the Tugen hills in the year 2000.

It is alleged that Muséum national d'histoire naturelle,France promised to put up a laboratory at Kipsaraman at a cost of Sh60 million, and even the president of the museum laid a foundation stone to commence construction but the funds are said to have been misused forcing the donors to withdraw.

According to Dr Pickford, the laboratory was to have three floors where all fossils from the larger Baringo County research sites would be stored.

He also said the French government withdrew Sh5 million that was set aside through its embassy in Nairobi to construct Yatyanin dam after CMK failed to abide by the terms of agreement.

"It is unfortunate that neither Kenyan university students nor the area residents can be able to see the Orrorin fossil as it was being kept in Nairobi where researchers from outside the country use it for their studies at the expense of local people," said Dr Pickford.

Apart from the discovery of Orrorin, the area is believed to be rich in other fossils with residents who accompanied the researchers already identifying more than 400 other sites potential for scientific research.

A tour of the neglected museum reveals rich fossils some dating as old as 12.5 million years.

Among the fossils at the museum include deinotherium bozazi (an elephant task) which has become extinct dating between 4.5-5.1 million years and fish fossil skeletons which dates over 12.5 million years.

According to the discoverers, Orrorin proves to be a direct human ancestor, and then australopithecines such as the australopithecua afarensis ("Lucy") may be considered a side branch of the hominid camily tree: Orrorin is both earlier, by almost 3 million years, and more similar to modern humans than is A. afarensis.