The Management of Public Sector Records Disposition Programme in Ghana

Abstract

An efficient and structured records disposition programme has several benefits to records management. Records disposition refer to the actions that are associated with implementing decisions about retention or destruction of records. It also includes migration and transfer of records to new storage locations, custodians or owners. In Ghana, PRAAD is the lead agency for records and archives management and by law has government-wide remit for the records disposition programme, a responsibility that includes controlled disposition of public records with the collaboration of public agencies and the consistent development and application of disposition procedures, standards and best practice. Questionnaire, interview and observation were used for data collection. Two sets of respondents were selected. The first set was made up of Chief Directors (bureaucratic heads of ministries) and their records office heads in the 24 ministries in Ghana. The second set comprised the top management of PRAAD, sampled purposively. The study revealed out that since 2000 the disposition programme has lacked focus as a result of a weak programme infrastructure. The holdings of the National Records Centre are in excess of storage capacity and the archives repositories are all full. Storage facilities in the public agencies (MDAs) are poor and it was evident PRAAD had no acquisition policy to inform its documentation goals. The effective creation, use and preservation of records are integral components of good governance. PRAAD must as a result ensure that related records infrastructure is complete and consistently implemented. Programme structure and ownership must similarly be strengthened.