ACCRA, Dec 11 — Members of Parliament have sounded an alarm over the deteriorating state of the Public Records and Archives Department (PRAD), warning that decades of government neglect could jeopardize Ghana’s legal standing and institutional memory.
The appeal for a comprehensive modernization of the country’s archival system came during a parliamentary session to approve a GHS 97 million budget for the Office of the Head of Civil Service.
A Matter of National Security
Leading the call, Mr. Patrick Yaw Boamah, MP for Okaikwei Central, highlighted that the department is much more than a repository for old papers—it is a strategic asset for national sovereignty.
He specifically pointed to Ghana’s high-stakes maritime boundary dispute with Côte d’Ivoire.
"That case proved the strategic value of maintaining impeccable national records," Boamah stated, stressing that the department has suffered from systemic underfunding by successive administrations.
The Roadmap to Modernization
Lawmakers argued that the current budget must be the starting point for a digital revolution within the department. To ensure transparency and accountability, the MPs urged the government to prioritize three key pillars:
Mass Digitization: Converting fragile physical documents into high-security digital formats to prevent loss from environmental decay or disaster.
Universal Accessibility: Creating a modern system where records can be easily searched and retrieved for legal research, governance, and academic study.
Preserving Institutional Memory: Ensuring that the history of public service and governance is not lost during administrative transitions.
Ensuring Transparency
The legislature emphasized that a robust archival system is the backbone of a transparent government. By resourcing PRAD, the state can better facilitate the "Right to Information" and provide a verifiable trail for administrative decisions.
The GHS 97 million allocation for the Civil Service is expected to provide the initial funding needed to begin the modernization process and address the years of neglect cited by the lawmakers.
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