Uganda observes records' day

By Conan Businge     
 
Uganda will join the rest of the world, for the first time, in commemorating the International Records Day on Thursday this week.

It is also being celebrated for the first time globally. This year’s theme is, ‘Records for the Future: Repositioning to Match Technological Developments.’
With the advent of the internet, record keeping is becoming more important than ever before.

The day is meant to create awareness amongst the various stakeholders such as Governments, private sector, NGOs, policy makers, records managers, records users and the general public.

Francis Ekwaro, the Coordinator of Electronic Records Management Project in Uganda, says that this year’s commemorations will involve community outreaches, a peaceful professional march and exhibitions.

There will also be a debate, drama, and presentations, to be made at the National Theatre in Kampala.

Ekwaro, in a statement released last evening says that many people and organisations. “Are generating and using electronic records in the day-to-day running of their business transactions.”

  “However, these electronic records are not well managed characterised by much attention on the hardware and physical existence of Information and Communication Technologies. This has made most organisations ignore the management of electronic records,” he added.

More so, failure by Government, organisations and individuals to embrace Electronic records management solutions, software, standards; he says “impedes effective and efficient service delivery, accountability, transparency, good governance, administration, and justice.”

Each year, there will be a chosen theme for this international event.

The themes will always be proposed by various Records and Information managers, associations, organizations and countries and a panel of experts.

These themes should be proposed by November of every year and experts will select one in December. The proposers of the selected theme will the lead the celebrations to commemorate the World Records Day.