Republic of Ghana Public Records and Archives Administration Department
PRAAD	Slave Trade Archives Project

Brief On PRAAD

ESTABLISHMENT

The former National Archives of Ghana was first located at the former Colonial Secretary's office, now Ministry of Interior. In an attempt to group together the scattered records of the Colonial Administration, Miss Majorie Harris, a British librarian by profession, was appointed in 1946 to head a separate division to be known as the Archives. Her responsibility was to sort and organise the records scattered all over the country.

Most had been neglected in offices, staircases and storerooms at the old  Secretariat Record Room and at Government House.  Even though she had to work under very trying conditions and limited resources by way of office space, staff and logistics, she succeeded in bringing some semblance of order to the archives.

Mr. J. M. Akita took over from Miss Harris as government Archivist in November 1946 after having studied abroad. With the promulgation of the Archives Ordinance of 1955 and Regulations of 1958, the stage was set for intensive organisation of the Archives nation-wide. This took the form of accession, classification and labeling of the non-current records of all the regions at the headquarters at Accra.

The establishment of the Search Section in May 1952 signaled the coming of age of the Archives because this meant that searchers and the general public could consult records and also telephone and postal inquiries could be addressed.  Earlier in May 1952, a document rehabilitation centre to repair and maintain damaged and endangered records had been set up.

In June 1955 the photographic reproduction service was introduced to improve search services.  Regional offices were set up, the first in Kumasi and later on in Koforidua, Cape Coast, Sekondi, Ho and Tamale.  With the creation of Brong Ahafo Region in 1959, the Sunyani office was set up.  The offices of the National Archives had to be moved from its temporary site at the Department of National Lotteries and relocated to the present site in 1961.  It was formally opened in December 1962. 

  Since that time there has been steady progress as evidenced in the increased acquisition of both public and private records of distinguished personalities like the first president of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, Kwegyiri Aggrey, George Blankson and James Bannerman to mention just a few.

This was after a nation-wide appeal to owners of private archives to deposit their papers with the Chief Archivist.  The Editorial Section was later set up to provide support for the educational and public relations aspect of archival work.  The main acquisitions are the Administrative Records (ADM.), Supreme Court Records (SCT), Newspaper Collection (NP), Ecclesiastical Records (EC), Maps and Plans (MP) and Special Collection (SC). 

The latest acquisition is the Ministerial Record Group (RG), which covers the post- independence era.  It is interesting to note that a microfilm collection was available as far back as 1969.

The Public Records and Archives Administration Department (PRAAD) came into existence by Legislative Instrument No. 1628 of 1996. The law (Act 535) defining the functions of the department was passed by Parliament and assented to by the President in August 1997.

FUNCTIONS

As contained in sub section I, section (1) of the Act, PRAAD is "responsible for the proper and effective management of records in public institution of government". In consonance with this, the department has to:

• ensure that public offices, institutions and individuals who create and maintain public records follow good record keeping practices;

• establish and implement procedures for the timely disposal of public records of no continuing value;

• advise on best practices and establish national standards in records keeping in the public services;

• establish and implement procedures for the transfer of public records of permanent value for preservation in the National Archives or other archival repository as may be designated under the Act; and

• perform any function conferred on the National Archives under any other existing enactment.
  

MISSION

The mission of the department as recently defined at a CSPIP diagnostic workshop, is to "preserve Ghana's collective memory by facilitating and overseeing the efficient management of records of all MDAs."

OBJECTIVES

1. To establish effective records management systems in MDAs throughout the country.

2. To ensure quality services to users through the development of well trained and committed human resources in PRAAD.

3. To ensure quality services to users through the provision of effective support systems.

4. To preserve, conserve, and develop archives and to prepare Finding Aids of records in custody.

5. To enhance PRAAD's capacity to deliver services in the regions by establishing fully functional regional offices.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Until September 1996, the department was referred to as the National Archives of Ghana established by the Public Archives Ordinance 1955 (No. 35) and operating under the National Commission on Culture (30/10/91-September 1996).

The functions of the former National Archives of Ghana have been integrated into the New Department as one of its three Divisions i.e. Archives division.. The other two are Records Management and Training and Research. There are seven regional offices.

A Chief Records Officer, the equivalent of Director 1 in the Admin. Class, heads each division. The over all head is a Director.

The Archives Division operates through the Search Room, Repository, Editorial Office, Photographic Laboratory and the Preservation Services Branch.

The Records Management Division's activities relate mainly to the establishment and operation of Records Centres and the restructuring of MDAs in order to ensure effective and efficient records retrieval and use for current business transaction.


ACCESSIBILITY OF RECORDS

There are two categories of national records that can be accessed
(1) NONCURRENT RECORDS (ARCHIVES) in the repositories of the National Archives.

There are over 40,000 boxes of (about 4,500,000 pieces of individual records) in the National Archives repositories. All these records are more than thirty years old and therefore qualify for access by the general public, academic researchers, journalists etc.

Most of the records researched into are:

• Native Affairs - Land and stool disputes, chieftancy matters

• Legal Matters - Court proceedings and Judgements Court orders, Probate, wills and letters of administration, Ordinances, Acts, Laws, Treaties, Constitutions.

• Newspapers - Gold Coast Aborigines, Methodist Times, Daily Graphic and Ghanaian Times, Chronicle, Spectator, Free Press.

• Private Papers - e.g. Kwame Nkrumah and Mensah Sarbah Papers.

• Pictures - e.g. Photographs in repository and those of exhibition hall of Heads of State.
  

(2) SEMI-CURRENT RECORDS in the National Records Centre.

The Centre now holds eighty-six thousand boxes of records from 54 MDAs.
Access to these records is restricted to the MDAs whose records are held in trust for them. Any other person seeking access to these records must obtain permission from the MDA in question.

This is because the records here reflect current transactions of business and are therefore, confidential.

Retrieval of records from the centre is fast, taking at most three minutes.

The records can also be consulted in the reading room of the records centre.


STORAGE

Efficient storage conditions and facilities are provided to ensure effective preservation aimed at preventing fast deterioration of the records and any man-made disasters.

Security of the records is also ensured by the provision of safety equipment like fire extinguishers, smoke detectors and burglar alarm systems . Adequate physical protection is also provided by containing the records in acid-free boxes.

All these measures are aimed at ensuring the availability of better national records that can be accessed by researchers, the media and others.