Records managers, archivists warned against corruption

Kenya Association of Records Managers and Archivists (KARMA) has warned its members against abetting corruption and violation of code of practice in the records management sector.

Chairman Clephas Ambira said a fundamental element of records management is ensuring that records remain secure, intact, accessible and intelligible for as long as they are needed.

He said all officers must operate within a competence framework, warning that rogue officers will be dealt with in accordance with the law. Like any other profession, the association is not devoid of rogue managers.

“We have developed a code of practice, we ensure our members sign it to know their roles, when keeping records, they should know what they are supposed to do, on matters of legal and disciplinary action we ask the relevant agencies to take over, but we ensure they operate within code of practice,” said Ambira.

He made the remarks at a media briefing on the sidelines of the seventh annual records managers conference in Mombasa. He said there is need for enforcement of legislations that require digitisation of records to averts corruption loopholes, adding that the sector still has loopholes that need to be streamlined with proper legislation.

“When they misbehave, like hiding files as we have heard before, we leave that to the government agencies to take action against them,” Ambira stated.

The association has also described a shortage of records managers in the private sector. The official further acknowledged the need for both government and private sector to invest on record managers to cope up with sector emerging global trends.

“In the government agencies, they have at least departments of record keeping but in the private sector we are having a big challenge, we need to have sufficient officers and departments because with the emerging technological trends there is need to invest in that,” said Ambira.
He said there are inadequate policies and adequate skills in the digital management of records calling thus affecting the management of records. He also decried limited budgets that hamper sector funding.
“The challenges that are there in terms of records management are inadequate policies, in all organisations so we still have a challenge of organisations having different policies, we also have the challenge of integration of technology to records information management, the world has moved, so we still need to integrate technology,” said Ambira. – Harrison Kivisu