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Kuona Trust: A tale of two statues and bills still to be paid

Friday February 17 2017
statues

Left, President Uhuru Kenyatta unveils the statue of Paul Ngei; and right, the Wangari Maathai, both by Kevin Oduor. PHOTOS | FILE

Crisis hit Kuona Trust arts centre is up and running, with a full time office staff cut from seven to just one administrator, guided by a volunteer committee of artists backed by the Trustees.

But some “challenges” — read problems — remain.

There is mixed news, for example, about the Kevin Oduor statue of Wangari Maathai, destined to be unveiled by President Kenyatta at the African Union HQ at Addis Ababa.

Good news — the statue is just a couple of days from completion. Bad news — $6,800 remains unpaid to Oduor, who is said to be “uncomfortable” about releasing his work until given the balance.

The government paid the full amount to Kuona but there, alas, the money trail ended in confusion.

READ: Kuona Trust: The fine art of a scandal

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ALSO READ: Kuona lives? There’s no accounting for it!

There is confusion too over payment for another work by Oduor, also commissioned through the Trust, which did at least make it to its plinth and was unveiled last Mashujaa Day by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

The statue is of controversial freedom fighter Paul Ngei, and stands at the junction of Mombasa Road and the Machakos turn-off.

Of the $9,800 agreed for the piece, Oduor received only $490. It is understood that the patron, Machakos County, has not yet paid the balance to Kuona.

Those who have followed the life of Ngei, who died in penury in 2004, would be amused by the irony.

He was known as the “King of Graft” in founding president Jomo Kenyatta’s Cabinet, was said to have been involved in several corruption scandals and was reputed to have once taken a new Mercedes from a showroom then flatly refused to pay for it.

In further developments, the Swedish NGO Forum Sud, which demanded repayment of a $56,000 grant by the end of January, generously agreed to accept the money in instalments — and more good news came from the chairman of the artists’ committee, sculptor Gakunju Kaigwa, who revealed Kuona was now welcoming an increasing number of older visitors with more money to spend.

There are still “challenges” collecting rent from some of the artists, however.

“It seems like the usual order of business,” Kaigwa said with a sigh.

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