By: Lamin B. Darboe
As part of his ongoing visit to departments under his purview, the Minister of Public Service, Administrative Reforms, Policy Coordination and Delivery, Hon. Babucarr O. Joof recently visited National Records Service (NRS) Department at the Quadrangle and the new NRS headquarters under construction in the Kanifing Institutional Area.
The purpose of the minister’s visit was to familiarize himself with the operations of the institution, its effort to transform from paper-based management of records to digital, as well as have first hand information about their challenges with a view to find solutions to those challenges among other issues.
Upon arrival at the National Records Services (NRS) department, Minister was received by Director NRS Mr.Bartholomew Marong. Mr. Marong briefed Minister Joof on the work of the various units/divisions within NRS namely: The current Records Division, Records Center Operation Division, Archives Division and IT Division. He also informed the minister that his institution signed Delegated Management Contract (DMC) with GAMWOKRS for the design and supervision of the construction of the new NRS headquarters in Kanifing.
The minister was also taken on a conducted tour of the office complex where various heads of divisions had the opportunity to elaborate on their roles and responsibilities.
Minister Joof thanked the Director and team for exposing him to what the institution is doing and highlighted that there are plans to build a system (e-government) through the Ministry of Digital Economy that will be robust, resilient and in line with national digitasation drive He also recognized the role records play in ensuring transparency and accountability in administration and implored National Records Service to come up with strategies to move from manual records keeping to digital.
The Public Service Minister, further called on the NRS boss to work on their policies and NRS Act 1993 in order to move from paper-based records to digital data management. He assured NRS of his Ministry’s commitment to supporting the creation of a system that will serve the Gambian better.
In conclusion, Public Service Minister Joof expressed satisfaction with the ongoing construction of NRS’s new headquarters at Kanifing Institutional Area.
The minister was accompanied to NRS by his Permanent Secretary, Pateh Jah.
