Sh30b state-of-the art national records centre and archives opens

Sep 28, 2016

Construction of the facility started in 2013 and was completed last year by China Railway Jianchang Engineering Company as the civil contractors and Mutiso Menezes International as the supervising consultants.

Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda on Thursday officially opens Uganda's National Records Centre and Archives (NRCA), located next to the Ministry of Health headquarters along Lourdel Road in Kampala.

Construction of the facility started in 2013 and was completed last year by China Railway Jianchang Engineering Company as the civil contractors and Mutiso Menezes International as the supervising consultants.

Before completion of the civil works on this building last year and the subsequent transfer of documents into it in November last year, national records were kept up in the basement of a former colonial administration building in Entebbe, at the present day National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) Secretariat.

Salome Nyamungu, the Director for Inspection and Quality Assurance at the Ministry of Public Service explained the New Vision the value of the centre.

"This centre is Uganda's inheritance. Ugandan researchers and even the general public can come here and view records from far back as 1900. This centre tells the history of a country. So you can come and view the 1900 Agreement, the various Constitutions we have had among many other important documents.  A country without a history is no country. This is our inheritance and we should cherish this as a nation," she says.

Services offered by centre

Appraised semi-current and archival records from ministries, departments, agencies and local governments are stored and managed at the centre. The facility also offers reference, retrieval and search room services.

Are you a researcher or academic intending to make use of this facility? What are the requirements you need to access this facility?

All people intending to carry out research at the national Records Centre and Archives have to seek clearance from National Council for Science and Technology.

 

Foreign researchers intending to carry out research are required to pay $300 to National Council for Science and Technology before accessing the facility.

 

Nationals intending to carry out nonacademic research are requested to pay $300 while Ugandan studies pursuing Masters' degrees and PhD candidates are required to pay $50 for research at the facility.

 

Undergraduate students in Uganda intending to research at the centre are also required to get clearance from the National Council for Science and Technology through their universities.

 

Nyamungu has urged Ugandans to take advantage of the facility.

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