Balenaivalu: Internal records need approval to be destroyed
The National Archives was also working with partnering up with development agencies to digitise all records.
Government ministries are not allowed to destroy internal records unless a Certificate of Destruction is issued by the National Archives of Fiji.
The comment was made by Acting Principal Archivist, Timoci Balenaivalu, who said their focus now was to get Government agencies to adhere to the Public Records Act.
He said under the law all government ministries had to write to the National Archives office to get approval before destroying any government record.
The National Archives was also working with partnering up with development agencies to digitise all records.
They currently have 25 staff and an issue that they face was security.
Mr Balenaivalu said previously they had dealt with people who took out pages from the library for personal reference.
And although offenders can be dealt with legally, they are let go with a simple warning. Mr Balenaivalu also commented on the decrease in their allocation in the 2020/2021 National Budget. He said though they might have to cut down on their community outreach programmes they would do their best with what they were given.
The National Archives of Fiji was allocated a little over $1 million.
Mr Balenaivalu also commented on the decrease in their budget in the 2020/2021 National Budget