The National Archives of Ghana: new responsibilities and challenges

Abstract

Ghana, a West African country and a predominantly agrarian society, achieved independence in 1957. In spite of modest developments in agriculture, light industry and education, by 1980 these initiatives had lost momentum. The non-economic productive sector such as government records systems suffered an even worse fate.

This article examines the Ghana Civil Service records reform programme begun as a result of two international workshops in 1989 and 1990 aimed at assisting the National Archives of Ghana.

Two international workshops on the management of records were held in Ghana in September 1989 and August 1990. The workshops were sponsored by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Association of Commonwealth Archivists and Records Managers (ACARM) with participation drawn from the records management communities in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the United Kingdom.(1)

The workshops were both significant and useful. Besides the achievements of the participants in reducing of several central government institutions, the massive backlogs of inactive records, establishing a national records centre, and pro-viding for the appraisal and transfer of materials to the National Archives of Ghana, the forum provided the opportunity to raise fundamental questions relating to records and information management policies and programmes in anglophone Africa in general and Ghana in particular.

The general view of the attendees was that the existing records management systems could no longer cope with the complex and growing challenges of modern administration. Above all, participants affirmed that the major factor underlying the gross inefficiency and lack of continuity and effectiveness of government policies of many African countries was not, as is commonly supposed, frequent changes in governments, but the severe breakdown of records management systems. Records and information have properties usually associated with resources and therefore need to be managed. Timely accurate and relevant information is vital to every aspect of public business.

The workshops were organized to create a forum where practical solutions to specific aspects of major problems would be discussed. The management of information has been a particular problem impeding the efficient administration of governments in many African countries. The loss of control of records has become a significant factor contributing to administrative inefficiency. The West African region was chosen for this field training scheme partly because of the severity of the records management problem and partly because of the high level of enthusiasm by the professional staff, who despite many frustrations were committed to achieving improvements