By ALI ABDI

Residents of upper Eastern counties of Marsabit and Isiolo have hailed the nomination of Dr Arero Hassan Wario as a Cabinet Secretary.

Wario who hails from Moyale District in Marsabit County is a British museum curator and academician.

He is widely seen as an ally of former Moyale legislator Muhamud Ali who unsuccessfully gunned for the Marsabit County gubernatorial seat on a United Republican Party ticket in the March 4 General Election.

Yesterday, locals said the appointment of Wario as Cabinet Secretary nominee of Sport, Culture and Arts was a big honour to the Borana community.

“We are happy with the appointment of Dr Arero. It simply shows the recognition by President Uhuru Kenyatta to the minority communities,” said Jarso Jillo, a resident of Moyale.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology from the University of Nairobi and Master’s degree in Advanced Arts of Africa, Oceania and the Americas and a PhD in Social Anthropology both from the University of East Anglia.

FIRST BLACK CURATOR

Wario was a keeper of anthropology at the Horniman Museum, London. He was the first black African curator to be appointed by a British museum in July 2002.

He has researched extensively the African and Caribbean Diaspora communities, the pastoral cultures of communities in Kenya and Eastern Africa, and recently, the Amerindians of the Amazon and Caribbean.

After graduating from the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nairobi in 1995, Dr Wario moved to the National Museums of Kenya to work as a collections administrator where he represented Kenya in the International Council of Museums (ICOM) project. That, led to the founding of Africom – the African arm of Icom – now based in Nairobi.

Wario moved to the UK in 1997 to further his professional development at the Sainsbury Research Unit, University of East Anglia.

In 1998, he was appointed head of ethnography, department of the National Museums of Kenya where he held the post for four years. Now a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Wario is co-editor of the Journal of Eastern African Studies.

Honours and awards achieved by the academician include the British High Commissioner’s Award and Chevening Scholarship scheme 1997.