Ghana: Record-Keeping - Key to good governance

Feature: Record-Keeping: Key to good governance
Last Updated: Friday, 27 March 2009, 1:60 GMT
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Making decisions and implementing them to deal with the needs of citizens is a
major concern of every good government. Of course, people are not pleased with
a government that is characterized by unjust and un-enforced legal systems,
arbitrary policy-making and widespread corruption.

Instead, they prefer a government that would not only help to improve their
living conditions but also allow them to have a voice in the decisions that
the government makes. Unfortunately, some people do not know that record
keeping is the pivot of good governance.

Transparency and Accountability

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Rule of law and human rights

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Economic development

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Corruption

One of the major reasons for the stagnation of the economies of many African
countries could be traced to corrupt governments and officials.
People give various reasons to justify their corrupt behavior. Some even say
that if you remain sincere and honest in your dealings, those who are "fast"
(corrupt) would have whatever they need and leave you behind. It is barely
thought that without corruption, governments could have marshaled the
necessary resources for the development of society at large, thereby making
life meaningful for everyone. The fact that such "fast" people are crown with
shame, humiliation, imprisonment and sometimes death after finishing their
race of acquiring illegal wealth should be enough to deter us from being
participants of such unworthy competition. In fact, no reason whatsoever
should be given to justify corruption in any form.

It is rather unfortunate that "ghosts" are employed to work at places,
resulting in huge sums of monies being siphoned at a great loss to the state.
Such monies could have been used to improve the socio-economic standards of
citizens.

Personnel files are very important and could serve as evidence that an
employee really exists and that his/her grade (rank) is appropriate to the
salary paid and that any additional benefits are correct and duly authorized.
I am not a prophet of doom but I could say unequivocally that until there is
effective management of personnel files, the problem of "ghost workers" would
be quite difficult to solve.

It would be unfair to say or suggest that no efforts are being made in Ghana
to eliminate or minimize corruption. Persons who were caught in this act were
made to face the laws of the land. The media, both print and electronic have
not relented in their fight against it. Commissions, committees and
institutions have been set up to address issues bothering on corruption. One
therefore wonders why the "disease" still persists in spite of the above and
other forms of "prescriptions". Archivists however believe that by
administering a single dose of effective and efficient record-keeping, we
could prevent the spread of this "social-killer disease".

The importance of records cannot be overemphasized. If records are properly
kept, it would be easy to establish who did what, when, why and how. People
would then be cautious of their actions, knowing that they could be exposed by
the appropriate documents and punished accordingly. On the other hand if
documents are lost due to improper records keeping, culprits could escape
justice with ease since there would be no evidence in the form of records.

Concerns

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There are quite a number of unemployed records management professionals, who
had quality training from the Department of Information Studies, University of
Ghana, looking for jobs. Companies, organizations and institutions should not
hesitate to tap the rich potentials of these professionals.

I am not suggesting that only people with academic qualifications in archives
administration should be made to manage records. After all, I know a number of
people who have not been to the university to study archives but they have
received the needed training in records management on the job and they are
performing creditably. My point is that round pegs should not be put in square
holes.

Archivists should also demonstrate high level of commitment and
professionalism in the course of their work. By doing so, they would expose
self-styled archivists, who do shoddy jobs and drag the name of the profession
in the mud.

As individuals and a nation, there is the need to be serious with records
keeping if really we want to achieve the aim of becoming a middle-income level
country through good governance.


Credit: By Sammy Dzandu
The writer is an archivist
[Email: wofasammy4@yahoo.com]