Most of the participants expressed serious concerns for recording indigenous knowledge. According to them, indigenous knowledge of land ownership had from generation to generation passed by word of mouth and is called ‘oral history.’ For instance, one of them stated: “There was no serious documentation of information that relates to land ownership. Transferring leadership role was determined by priesthood history” (Kekero of Black tribe, Interview, 14.05.07). Another participant commented that ‘oral transferring of knowledge’ had caused enormous concerns on accuracy issues. He stated: “As all the stories are only oral, there is high possibility that those stories will be translated incorrectly” (Kikidukome of Green Tribe, Interview, 26.06.07). He further commented that knowledge changes with problems encountered therefore, it is possible that resolving problems may need slightly changing the traditional knowledge one has. He stated: “As the whole indigenous knowledge is vulnerable to change, there is a need that chiefs aware of it or they would cause other problems when trying to resolve an issue” (Kikidukome of Green tribe, Interview, 26.06.07).
A former local court judge commented on the degree of accuracy of stories and genealogies people presented in court indicated that to certain degrees the stories delivered were not original. He stated:
“When hearing cases we were listening to get important points upon which we can give our judgement. We often found in stories that one party will trace pagan priesthood profile while
the other will indicate points they think necessary. The one that traces priesthood principles expressed things like, ‘I am (when referring to his ancestors) taking … prayer in front of … holy shrine and I burnt … such a big and so forth. I celebrated this sacred feast (maama) and my ancestors to whom I am praying were buried in … shrine and so forth. We compare stories from both parties but clearly the most important thing about customary land is prayer, shrine, gifts, who gave what, who received what … In the current society few things must be addressed immediately. One of those is that oral history must be documented so that they are filed and are not vulnerable to changes during transferring of knowledge from one generation to the next” (Giororo, Interview, 14.05.07).
Most of the participants indicated that documentation of indigenous knowledge can be done effectively under the FTA. They believed the FTA provided the opportunity that all indigenous knowledge of land ownership can be documented. For instance, a member of the council of chiefs stated:
“The FTA has given the ever wanted chance for documenting the stories, genealogies and physical evidences of land ownership. The documents will be filed and used as tribal charter to eliminate corruption of falsifying oral genealogies and narrations. It will also be filed for access of current generation and the generations to come” (Fiu of Red tribe, Interview, 12.05.07).
A tribal member supported that documenting genealogies is crucial to avoid ‘name confusions.’ He commented that one of the causes of confusions is with respect to ‘similar or same names’ people often used. For instance, he stated:
“In a genealogy the name ‘Kuru’ may be used by three different people in different generations. The reason is simple as the last Kuru only named after his great grannies but the confusion it creates is enormous in the current society. In a society of high illiteracy documentation of genealogies is not possible. A few smart guys normally got their way in manipulating such genealogies with the intention of acquiring land falsely; causing a lot of problems” (Nai of Black tribe, Interview, 18.05.07).
Many of the participants further commented that documentation of indigenous things must include physical evidence that has links to land. One of the participants for example stated: “There are needs for proper documentation of history as well as recording of boundaries, shrines, gifts, plantations and other relevant issues that give evidence of landownership” (Kekero of Black tribe, Interview, 14.05.07). The participants indicated that FTA enables the needed recording to be done effectively.
One other participant commented that recording gifts in the land is equally important to avoid confusion and disputes. He stated:
“In most lands the ancestors have offered gifts to particular members of the tribe or to an outside friend for cultural reasons. Such in some cases had been manipulated or being denied in the current society. The FTA recovered those therefore, vital to record what is it that was given, who gave it out, who received it, for what reason and so on…” (I’ikafo, Interview, 11.05.07).
Three other tribal chiefs commented that the government has already formed the Recording Act except that it was not being exercised by the people. They believed although there haven’t been any successes so far, the Act paves the way for success of the FTA. One of them for example stated:
“The Land Recording Act is aligned with the FTA. It will take on board the historical stories that we have, and those only arrived to live with us will be clearly revealed. As the FTA declares its findings and recording (as stipulated under the Act) takes place, it will be possible that emigrants will know where their roots are and will also know which recording they are included” (Kwikwisi of Red tribe, Interview, 26.06.07).