By Sammy Dzandu

If I were Socrates, Plato, Kant, or any of the renowned philosophers, I would have added “show me an individual, an organization or a nation that keeps proper records and I will tell you an individual, an organization or a nation that is serious” to my stock of philosophical sayings.

Many of us are paying dearly for improper record-keeping; yet we seem not to learn any lessons. A parent pays his children’s school fees and never troubles to keep the receipt(s) properly. Since the school also does not keep proper records, it (the school) sacks the children from school for non-payment of fees. What happens next? Misunderstanding and exchange of words – “You’ve not paid,” “I’ve paid”, “What’s the proof that you’ve paid?” etc.

A utility service provider disconnects a customer for non-payment of bills whereas in actual fact the customer has paid in full. Since the customer cannot show any proof of payment, he is forced to swallow the bitter pill of not enjoying the services of that service provider, at least, for some time.

A patient spends much money and time on medical tests and medications only to be told the next time he visits the hospital that his medical folder could not be found. He is therefore compelled to do the tests all over again, without which it would be almost difficult for his medical doctor to properly attend to him.

I would not like to talk about the kind of frustrations that some people go through for losing their birth, academic, land and marriage certificates. I would also not ask how many people are able to keep their pay-slips from the time they were employed to date. As for appointment letters, I better keep my mouth shut. Until some people want to travel outside the country they could not tell where exactly their passports are. The recent national identification exercise exposed our poor attitude towards record-keeping. It took some people weeks to find their voter identity cards and/or birth certificates.

Is it not amazing that some parents cannot remember the birthdays of their children? Gone were the days when some people used events to remember birthdays. In this 21st century, we need to keep proper (written) records.

I cannot agree more with the saying “charity begins at home”. Our lackadaisical attitude towards the keeping of our personal documents has reflected in the way we manage official records.

Why should a staff send official files home or lock up official documents in his/her drawer when he/she is going on leave?

Few days after a memo/letter was sent to an action officer, the next thing you would hear when the letter is followed up is “I can’t find it”. The chorus that greets some retired staff when they visit their former offices to request for documents to process their entitlements is “we can’t find your personal file; go and come another day;” Very vital records which should be preserved for posterity are destroyed while those which should be destroyed are occupying office spaces. It is not an exaggeration to say that sometimes, the files pile up so much that they (the files) literary chase the staff out of their offices.

Sometimes, before a Board or Management ends its meeting, the minutes are already in public.

There are instances when organizations and companies lose their vital documents to disasters such as theft, flood and fire. Unfortunately they have no back-ups to fall on after such disasters.

Only God knows the number of people whose justices are either delayed or denied due to the fact that the dockets on their cases could not be traced.

Many land and chieftaincy litigations with their attendant problems could have been avoided if proper records were kept.

I met a former class mate not long ago. He was the financial manager of a renowned company. He looked very worried and frustrated. Narrating his woes to me, he said his company folded up and they had to pay the entitlements of their employees based on the number of years that each person served the company. The one who leased the buildings to them also claimed the company owed him. Some business partners had also taken them to court for breach of contract. Unfortunately, the records of the company were so badly kept that it was impossible for management to make the relevant references to enable them address the issues. As a friend, I wished I could assist him professionally but alas, it was too late to do so. All I could do was to sympathize with him. I did just that, wished him well and we parted company.

In fact, the consequences of improper record-keeping cannot be overemphasized. However, it is not enough to just catalogue the problems. We need to find solution(s) to them (the problems).

One of the major ways to solve the problem is to engage personnel with the necessary training in records/archives administration to manage records.

What we should know is that records management is a profession; and just like any other profession, one needs to be trained to be able to perform well.

Teachers, engineers, lawyers, social workers, architects, pharmacists, journalists and other professionals were made to undergo the necessary training before they were permitted to practice.

Unfortunately, some organizations and companies assign records management duties to people who do not have any training in that discipline. Such organizations erroneously think that anybody at all can manage records. How come we do not assign medical, engineering, legal and other professional duties to people who are not trained in those areas yet we do so in records/archives administration?

It saddens me when I hear people making fun and mockery of staff who work at registries, records centres and archives. May be they are not aware of the prices that they could pay for improper record-keeping.

I always commend the Department of Information Studies of the University of Ghana for the good quality of training given to students in records/archives administration from Diploma to the Master’s Degree levels. In fact, quite a number of companies and organizations are benefiting immensely from the products of that Department. However, there are more of such qualified and competent records management professionals up there who are still looking for jobs. Companies, institutions and organizations should make use of these professionals to improve their records management systems.

Of course, archivists and records managers who are in charge of records of organizations and companies should also demonstrate high level of commitment and professionalism in the course of their work. By doing so, their employers would repose the expected confidence in them.

We should remember that records are the pivot of development. We should therefore manage them properly.

wofasammy4@yahoo.com The writer is an archivist