Page 21 - Professorial Lecture - Prof Nengomasha

8. Conclusions and Recommendations

The question posed earlier in this paper is: Has records and archives management
in the public service of Namibia been treated as a field requiring specialists
capable of directing and managing the asset, information in the form of
records? The answer is a no supported by the conclusions and comments below.
A lot more needs to be done in the public service of Namibia to accord specialist
status to records and archives management supported by skilled and trained
staff, adequate resources and a strong legal and regulatory framework, capable
of addressing transformation of records and archives management driven by
digital transformation in the public service of Namibia.

8.1 Records Management Programme

The legal and regulatory framework for managing records in the public service
of Namibia is inadequate to address the transformation required of the records
management programme of the public service of Namibia. The Archives Act
as well as the Archives Code should be revised to fully address digital records
management. The demands of managing electronic records cannot be
addressed through weak arguments that records as addressed by the current
Archives Act address all formats. The Archives Act must be explicit. A revised
Archives Code in line with a revised Act will go a long way towards providing
guidance on digital records management. However, compliance with the Act
needs to be enforced.

The success of any records management programme largely depends on the
training and skills that the staff have. A lot needs to be done by the public service
of Namibia in terms of staffing. This should start with a staff establishment that
recognises records and archives management. This would then be followed by
filling posts with trained and skilled staff.

8.2 Digital Age

Namibia’s adoption of e-government is evident through various e-services
offered by the public service. The implementation of an EDRMS for the public
service, and other systems to manage electronic records and information in
several OMAs are commendable efforts to transform records management in
the public service. However, these have fallen short due to poor planning and
failure to apply standards for the design of these systems to meet electronic
records keeping requirements. The entire life cycle management of records
in the public service is a story of a struggle to harness ICTs. Whilst the records
offices have not embraced as expected the use of the EDRMS to enhance the

Transformation of Records & Archives Management in the Public Service of Namibia 21