• The programme will ensure indigenous and cultural knowledge is preserved and value-added to empower communities while earning revenue for the government.
• Indigenous knowledge associated with genetic resources such as traditional foods, traditional medicines and technologies will also be documented.
Image: ALICE WAITHERA:
The national government is preserving indigenous knowledge and associated assets in Murang'a county.
It will include song and dance, folklore and poetry, programme coordinator Evans Daraja said.
“Indigenous knowledge associated with genetic resources such as traditional foods, traditional medicines and technologies will also be documented. Such knowledge can be given added value and commercialised to improve local economies in counties where they originate,” he said
In Murang’a, the programme will prioritize Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine that is believed to be the origin of the Agikuyu community.
The shrine will be documented and rehabilitated for education, films and tourism purposes.
County executive in charge of Trade and Culture Paul Mugo said the county government has set aside funds to rehabilitate Mukurwe wa Nyagathanga shrine in collaboration with elders and the National Museums of Kenya.
“With over four million members of the Agikuyu community, we want to convert the shrine into a pilgrimage site and attract as many tourists as possible,” he said.
Mugo noted that under the programme, the first senior chief Karuri wa Gakure and the controversial colonial woman chief Wangu wa Makeri’s offices will be documented and enhanced for tourism.
A site in Mugoiri area that has a special kind of soil for pottery will also be documented and commercialized.
Herbalists using local herbs to manage diseases will also be incorporated in the programme and value-added into modern products.
A wide range of traditional foods, Daraja said, will also be documented for the benefit of local communities and the government.
The department of Culture programme aims at ensuring indigenous and cultural knowledge is preserved and value-added to empower communities while bringing in government revenue.
The department held a week-long training and capacity-building forum for stakeholders who will be involved.
It also gave the county equipment used to document indigenous knowledge and associated assets by elders, the church, young champions and members of the community.
Programme coordinator Daraja said it is being anchored on the Protection of Traditional Knowledge and Cultural Expressions Act of 2016 that compels the government to recognize, protect and promote indigenous knowledge as a socio-economic development tool.
Other counties that will benefit in the pilot phase include Kilifi, Makueni, Garissa, Tharaka Nithi, Marsabit, Kericho, Narok, Turkana, Kakamega, Vihiga, Siaya and Kisii.
Benson Mugo, administrative secretary in the Department of Culture, said documentation of such knowledge will lead to the setting up of indigenous knowledge digital registers in the counties that will be interlinked with a national repository.
This, he said, will be a milestone for the country as it will help promote indigenous knowledge and innovations that will trigger scientific discoveries and value addition. It will open a new sub sector of the economy.
“This is knowledge that will come from people and if not protected, there are many people out there willing to patent and own it as has happened with some of our traditional products.”
“But once we patent it, some wealth will trickle down to communities every time someone wants to use it. I want to assure you the government recognises the importance of the programme and will ensure it is rolled out in all counties."
County commissioner Karuku Ngumo said communities had their own systems that worked before colonialism degraded them.
Traditional doctors were then called witchdoctors yet communities depended on them before white settlers got into the county.
"Murang'a is the cradle of our community. The same way people pay for pilgrimage tours in Israel is the same thing that should happen with our community," he said, pledging to support the programme.
Under the programme, the government has been working with Murang’a Traditional Medical Practitioners’ Association that has about 35 members and has forwarded seven samples for research and fine-tuning.
The samples submitted to the Primates Research Institute in July last year were targeted at respiratory disorders such as Covid-19 and colds among others.
Should the samples that were produced collectively by the group be approved, the government will commercialise them, with the group getting 40 per cent of the proceeds while the state, county government and local communities will get 20 percent each.
(Edited by V. Graham)