The past, present and future of records and archives management in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

In this article, the author highlights some of the issues that have drawn the attention of records and archives management professionals in sub Saharan Africa.  The article draws from the author’s experiences as a practicing archivist, administrator and educator over a period of thirty years in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia. A look at the resolutions of the East and Southern African Regional Branch of the International Council on Archives (ESARBICA) conferences over the years, tell a story of a profession that is still grappling with the old challenges of managing records and archives. These include poor records storage, lack of records management policies or where they exist, a failure to implement the policies, failure to follow the basic procedures involved in managing records throughout their entire life cycle such as none existence of or failure to implement filing systems and retention schedules. Audit reports still paint a gloomy picture over the poor state of records and records keeping systems. These issues are repeated in almost every ESARBICA resolution document and reiterated by many studies as presented in research reports and publications. The article argues that some of these challenges seem to have persisted and have transcended time and space, from the past into the present and affect many of the sub Saharan Africa countries, albeit in varying degrees. If not put in check these issues will be carried over into the future. The author acknowledges the growth that the profession has experienced in terms of training and the impressive number of Diploma, Degree, Masters and PhD holders. It even boasts of a sizeable number of Professors. The question is: What can the professionals do to make their research and studies have more impact in solving these records keeping problems? This is a theoretical study based on some desk research which looked at ESARBICA resolutions as well as some reports on studies conducted on records and archives management in sub Saharan Africa.