Kaya elders protest taxation of stolen artefacts

Kaya elders from Rabai sub county in Kilifi county attending a meeting with kilifi county governor Amason Kingi when they visited him at his office on Tuesday. The kaya elders led by their spokesman Mr. Baya Mitsanze revealed to the governor that Mombasa county was plotting to carve part of Rabai sub county region to Mombasa and wanted him to intervene and save the area. [PHOTO/JOSEPH MASHA/STANDARD]

Mijikenda Kaya elders are alarmed by the new Government requirement to pay taxes for repatriation of cultural artifacts from the US.

Wooden memorial plagues which belonged to the Mijikenda ancestors, locally known as vigango, were stolen several years back and sold to tourists but the US is arranging for their return since they are sacred to the community.

However, a consignment of the vigango is being held at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi over unpaid taxes.

Yesterday, Kaya spokesman Baya Mitsanze pleaded with the Government to consider the cultural value of the vigango and allow free shipment from the US where several of them have been found in galleries and museums.

"Our public institutions need awareness about the cultural attachment to the vigango and the need to repatriate them," Mitsanze said.

He wondered why the Government was frustrating the repatriation effort and vowed to petition the Government to intervene and ensure that the vigango finally reach families who need them for spiritual purpose.

Last week, National Museum of Kenya (NMK) Head of Museums, Sites and Monuments Dr Purity Kiura revealed that a consignment of about 50 pieces of vigango have been lying at the JKIA since January last year because of a requirement to settle taxes.

TOO MUCH

Dr Kiura said she could not understand why NMK should pay Sh5 million as taxes imposed under a new requirement and that was why the consignment has been abandoned at the airport.

Dr Kiura said the shipment, which was made by California State University in collaboration with NMK and the US ambassador, contains items of cultural value and not commercial purposes hence should be tax exempt.

"Culture and heritage are the basis of any nation and we do not understand why taxation should be imposed on such items," Dr Kiura said.

She appealed to governors in coastal counties to intervene and see whether they can secure release of the vigango.

She said shipment of another consignment of about 50 vigangos has been put on hold in Colorado, US until this taxation issue is resolved.