Mzalendo Kibunjia

Kibunjia Nyagah Mzalendo is a Kenyan Archeologist trained in Nairobi and the United States — Rutgers. He was formerly the Director General National Museums of Kenya.(NMK), leading a multi-disciplinary state corporation. He was appointed as the first chairman of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) a government agency intended to address and reduce inter-ethnic conflicts. He chaired the Nakuru Peace Accord agreement between the Agikuyu and the Kalenjin communities.

He was the first Kenyan to hold a doctorate in Early Stone Age Archaeology after Richard Leakey convinced him that he should give up his scholarship in Anthropology and instead wait for a good opportunity to pursue studies in early Stone Age archaeology.

Background and Education

Dr. Mzalendo Kibunjia was born on January 13, 1962, in Marimanti village, Tharaka Nithi County. He attended the University of Nairobi, graduating with a B. A. in Archaeology and History He studied at Rutgers, obtaining M. A. in Anthropology in 1989. His degree of Doctor of Philosophy, in the same field was obtained in 2002, also from Rutgers. He is also pursuing a Bachelor of Laws (L.LB) at the University of Nairobi.

Career

Before completing his undergraduate course he was given a scholarship to pursue a PhD at the University of Toronto, Canada. In 1984, he joined expeditions with Charles Cable who introduced him to the National Museum of Kenya (NMK) where he met and began to work with Richard Leakey. NMK organized a scholarship for Mzalendo at the University of Wisconsim, Milwaukee. The West Turkana Archaeological Project, which he co-directed with the then WTAP director Helene Roche, is still making important contributions to the knowledge and understanding of stone-tool technology in early human evolution

He was the founding chairman of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC), an institution that was created after the 2007/2008 post-election violence by the Koffi Annan Negotiation Team to address and reduce inter-ethnic conflicts and ensure that Kenya does not succumb to a similar situation in the future. He led the commission in the development of the Nakuru County Peace Accord between the Agikuyu and the Kalenjin Communities.

He has held different positions at National Museum of Kenya such as Director General, Chief Research Scientist, the Head of Sites and Monuments, Chairman Museum Enterprise and Development Unit (MEDU) Committee, Chairman Ol Ari Nyiro, UNESCO World Heritage Site List Nomination Committee, and Chairman National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) on proposed 140 MW Olkaria Geothermal Power Plant. He is a Technical Advisor to Kenya Delegation to United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Committee, and State Party meetings and has also offered expertise in the development of Africa Insider Mediators Platform, IGAD Mediation Unit, Djibouti and national cohesion and integration training manual.

Bibliography

Mzalendo's published works is among many articles on Old Stone Age tool technology and other scientific projects such as:

* Koobi Fora Field & Training Program in Paleoanthropology.
* West Turkana Archaeological Research Project.
* Swahili Studies and Coastal Peoples of Kenya field school.
* Early hominin foot morphology based on 1.5 million-year-old Footprints from Ileret Kenya.
* First occurrence of early Homo in the Nachukui Formation (West Turkana, Kenya)

References

External links

National Museums of Kenya

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibunjia, Mzalendo
1962 births
Living people
University of Nairobi alumni
Rutgers University alumni
Kenyan archaeologists
People from Tharaka-Nithi County