The Atheists in Kenya Society has sent its condolences message following the death of Dr Richard Erskine Frere Leakey.
Leakey’s death was announced on Sunday by President Uhuru Kenyatta.
In a statement, Atheists in Kenya Society president Harrison Mumia described Leakey as a towering figure for religious scepticism and inspiration to atheist generations across the world.
“During a time when atheism and religious scepticism was frowned upon in most parts of Africa, he was a shining beacon of naturalism,” Mumia said.
He also said he was a bold and incorruptible wildlife conservationist.
“As the slaughter of African elephants reached a crescendo in the late1980s, driven by insatiable demand for ivory, Leakey emerged as one of the world’s leading voices against the then-legal global ivory trade,” he said.
Richard Leakey’s confrontational approach to the issues of human-wildlife conflicts in national parks earned him critics.
Mumia said Leakey’s view was that parks were self-contained ecosystems that had to be protected against human encroachment.
“Dr Richard Leaky remains our role model, and his legacy as a passionate scientist, atheist, conservationist and humanist will endure for many generations to come,” Mumia added.
Uhuru described Leakey as a global renowned Kenyan paleoanthropologist and conservationist who over the years served his country with distinction.
Leakey previously worked as Director of the National Museums of Kenya and Chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service Board of Directors.
“Besides his distinguished career in the public service, Leakey is celebrated for his prominent role in Kenya’s vibrant civil society where he founded and successfully ran a number of institutions among them the conservation organization Wildlife Direct,” Uhuru said.
Leakey was a close friend of Charles Njonjo who died on Sunday aged 101.
Reportedly, Leakey was the only man in Kenya Njonjo trusted.
In the 1970s, Leakey made groundbreaking discoveries of early hominid fossils.
His most famous find came in 1984 with the uncovering of an extraordinary, near-complete Homo erectus skeleton during one of his digs in 1984, which was nicknamed Turkana Boy. BY THE STAR