Information Technology: A challenge to the Creation and preservation of trustworthy electronic records in the public service of Namibia

As organisations increasingly adopt the use of information and communication technologies, the corresponding increase in thecreation of electronic records has brought about a number of recordsmanagement challenges. These manifest themselves in a number ofways. Problems associated with the management of electronic records are organisational and technical. This article focuses on the technical problems, which are normally looked upon as the “usual” IT problems but have a significant impact on the creation and preservation of trustworthy electronic records. Using examples from the public service of Namibia, the article reiterates the call for collaboration between records managers and information technology (IT) professionals in designing systems that take cognisance of records management requirements, and concludes by calling upon recordsmanagement professionals to make IT professionals understand whatrecords management principles are and how they may contribute to the creation and preservation of trustworthy electronic records

Electronic Government Initiatives in the Public Service of Namibi

The paper highlights e-government initiatives in the public service of Namibia based on a study that was carried from February to August 2007 employing literature review, observation and interviews with 85 respondents that included desk officers, records keeping staff and information technology (IT) personnel in seven ministries, two regional councils and two local authorities. The study established that Namibia is still at the initial phase of her e-government implementation strategy, i.e., publication of information level of e-maturity. The problems associated with failure of e-government in African and other developing countries are discussed in the Namibia context. These problems include: inadequate data systems; underdeveloped legislative, institutional and human  capacity including leadership; inadequate technological infrastructure; and poor records management. The paper provides a number of recommendations aimed at ensuring that the Namibian Public Service captures details of transactions, takes account of privacy, confidentiality and security issues, and provides timely, reliable and useful information.Keywords: Electronic government, governance, electronic records, Namibi