Management of public sector records in Ghana: a descriptive survey
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-10-2014-0044 |
| Published date | 20 July 2015 |
| Pages | 183-196 |
| Date | 20 July 2015 |
| Author | Harry Akussah,Catherine Asamoah |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance |
Management of public sector
records in Ghana:
a descriptive survey
Harry Akussah and Catherine Asamoah
Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to survey and evaluate the management of public sector
records in Ghana with a view to making constructive recommendations to ensure efciency in public
administration.
Design/methodology/approach – Published and unpublished works, in addition to institutional
reports, acts and conference materials, were used for the survey and evaluation.
Findings – Public sector records management has been a very topical issue in Africa and Ghana. It has
remained a very fundamental subject in Ghana since the institution of public sector reforms in the 1990s.
Before the institution of the reform programme, critical records were inaccessible due to unstructured
records systems in the ministries, departments and agencies and other government establishments. It
was found out that the reform programme had brought on board immense capital injection into the
records management sector which enabled an overhaul of the system. All registries in the public sector
were restructured, a new legislative framework was put in place, a functional records centre was
established, an omnibus retention schedule was developed and a number of records staff were trained
and re-trained. It was however found out that Act 535, having been in operation for 17 years, the needed
regulation to make it more operational has not yet been put in place. It is the hope that with adequate
funding and structural support, the new system will be sustained to the benet of efciency and
productivity of the Ghana public sector.
Research limitations/implications – Being a descriptive survey, the research engaged in very
little evaluation of the impact of the new system put in place on the levels of efciency and productivity
in the public sector. This should be the focus of further research to be carried out.
Practical implications – This paper has established the importance of how structures must be
sustained and systems continuously re-tooled to accommodate changing trends in records management
for good governance.
Originality/value – The paper is a descriptive survey of literature, manuals reports and some degree
of personal observations. It is more of a situation paper and its value resides in the precedence and the
evidential value of system intervention and re-tooling.
Keywords Ghana, Good governance, Public records, Recordkeeping system
Paper type General review
Introduction
For the past two decades, public sector records management has been a very topical
issue in Africa. It became a very crucial subject in Ghana in the 1990s during the wave
of public sector reforms. Among others, the public sector reform in Ghana was:
[…] to enhance efciency in the machinery of government and to provide timely and
productive service to the executive branch of government, particularly advisory support to the
Presidency and Ministers of State (IRMT, 2008).
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Management
of public
sector records
183
Received 30 October 2014
Revised 11 December 2014
7 January 2015
Accepted 15 January 2015
RecordsManagement Journal
Vol.25 No. 2, 2015
pp.183-196
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/RMJ-10-2014-0044
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