EuropaWorld 2912/2000 Dr Richard Leakey

From discovering human remains to protecting Africa's wildlife, Dr Richard Leakey is again at the forefront of Kenyan public affairs. After a distinguished career as a conservationist, paleontologist, public servant and humanitarian, the former head of Kenya Wildlife Service is prominent in pro-democracy politics in Kenya.

Richard Leakey comes from a family which is passionate about both conservation and human development. Born to prominent scientific parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, in Kenya in 1944, he began his career as he puts it "searching for human origins." Influenced by his parents - who made breakthrough discoveries in this field in Kenya and Tanzania - his own excavation work commenced in the 1960s and culminated in the discovery of a one million-year old skeleton of homo erectus - the so-called 'Turkana boy.' Shortly after this find, Leakey was appointed head of the National Museum of Kenya at the tender age of 23. A life of dedicated public service has followed.

A Worldwide Ban on Ivory Trade
Dr Leakey's foremost achievement in public life perhaps came with his appointment as head of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) in 1989. At that time Kenya was at the mercy of wildlife poachers, who threatened to push much of the country's wildlife to extinction. Leakey fought the poachers by a combination of effective police power and good administration. He stamped out corruption and gave local people an interest in preserving wildlife through encouraging tourism, and thus gaining a stake in the system of preservation. He successfully campaigned for a worldwide ban on trading ivory. This huge achievement was symbolised memorably when a mountain of ivory tusks was set on fire by Kenya's President Moi. However, differences with the Kenyan government led to Leakey's resignation in 1994.

Time for Democracy
In the last ten years Richard Leakey's concern for his country and its people has led him to champion democratic politics and open government in Kenya. He founded the reformist political party 'Safina' in 1995 and worked to form an effective opposition alliance. His trenchant views - he said in an interview in 1996 that he felt frustrated "that a country with tremendous resources is still being so badly governed - there is no real democracy in Kenya and at the end of the century it is time there was" - brought him into conflict with the government of Daniel arap Moi (successor to President Kenyatta).

However, this principled stand did not stop his return to frontline public affairs with his re-appointment to the KWS in 1998 and recognition of his great integrity and courage in his appointment as the Head of Public Service in July 1999. This appointment, which may seem strange at first to northern European eyes, means Leakey's reformist view is being recognised at the heart of government.

What makes Richard Leakey's recent life all the more extraordinary is that in 1993, he lost both his legs in a plane crash. Undaunted by this horrifying accident, he has continued to work tirelessly for the two goals which drive him on - the improvement of the human condition as well as a greater understanding and awareness of the natural world upon which that improvement depends.

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