The Kenyan president stated on Sunday that Richard Leake, a Kenyan conservationist and paleontologist who campaigned towards the ivory commerce to avoid wasting the dwindling African elephant inhabitants, has died. He was 77 years previous.
Over the years Leakey served in numerous roles in authorities, together with as director of the state-run National Museum of Kenya and twice as board chairman on the Kenya Wildlife Service.
President Uhuru Kenyatta stated that Leakey “has done our nation a special service … In addition to his distinguished career in public service, Dr. Leakey is celebrated for his prominent role in Kenya’s vibrant civil society where he has served in several institutions. Installed and ran successfully.”
Leakey was the son of paleontologists Louis and Mary Leakey, whose work helped reveal that human evolution started in Africa. He was celebrated for his work in defending wildlife from poachers and for pioneering campaigns towards the ivory commerce.
Paula Kahumbu, chief wildlife conservationist at Wildlife Direct, informed Reuters He was mentored by Leakey, as had been many different younger Kenyans. “Very courageous, he was a man who stood for integrity, whether it was in wildlife conservation, whether it was related to archaeological and fossil research in museums or whether it was related to politics,” she stated.
Leakey additionally served as Kenya’s civil service chief from July 1999 to March 2001, at a time when then-president Daniel Arap Moi was below stress from donors to sort out corruption and different inefficiencies within the authorities. He was the co-founder of the Safina Party in 1995.
At the time of his loss of life, he served as President of the Turkana Basin Institute at Stony Brook University within the United States, which works to facilitate analysis and schooling in paleontology and archeology in northern Kenya. Leakey was additionally a Fellow of the UK-based Royal Society and an Honorary Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
