The Secretary-General, Ghana Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), Ama Serwah Nerquaye-Tetteh, made the call at the Memory of the World (MoW) Documentary Heritage Workshop held last Tuesday in Accra.

“Think about it, how much do we individually know of Ghana before independence, or even after? 

“Over the years, the stories have been modified, relevant details and documents have been lost or hoarded and we can't wait until we have been left with fragmented information that does not often tell much of a story,” she said.

MoW is a UNESCO initiative to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity.

It aims to facilitate preservation of the world’s documentary heritage, particularly in areas affected by conflict or natural disaster which would enable universal access to documentary heritage worldwide.

Again, it intends to enhance public awareness of the significance of documentary heritage among the wider public.

The workshop in Accra was attended by officials of the UNESCO Ghana Commission and other stakeholders in  education and culture.

 History 

Ms Nerquaye-Tetteh emphasised that the history of a people was the embodiment of who they were and if that was lost, within the next century, there would be nothing left to give people an identity. 

She expressed concern that modernity was impacting culture and heritage and, thus, encouraged stakeholders to take advantage of the MoW Programme to preserve it.

 “How much do we know of the history and origin of our various cultural elements? How many stories of historical events can you pass on?

“Regardless of how fleeting information has become in this fast-paced world, technology presents us with the opportunity to identify, document heritage materials, collate and safeguard Ghana's heritage,” she stated.

Loss of documented heritage

The Chairperson, National MoW Committee, Dr Helena Asamoah-Hassan, stated that most documented heritage sat in libraries and archives, and often disappeared through natural causes.

She said, for instance, acidified paper became brittle with age;  the weather, heat or humidity, light or dust destroyed leather, parchment, film and magnetic tape unless preserved or restored.

Also, floods, fires, hurricanes, storms, earthquakes, wars and even by government decisions, such documentaries were lost.

"Efforts needed to preserve all these require the implementation of a consistent protection programme which will pool endeavours and make use of state-of-the-art technology," the National MoW Committee chairperson stressed.

 Preservation 

Dr Asamoah-Hassan noted that some of the things that could be preserved was a collection of historical manuscripts which included historical papers and works from private organisations and individuals connected with the country’s endeavours, policies, reports, court cases and opinions.

Others were historical manuscripts that the National Archives kept, such as writings of missionaries, religious institutions, traders, renowned individuals connected with the country’s history, magazines, newsletters, newspapers, government gazettes, cinematographic collection, among others.

"Preservation must be everyone's business including governments, institutions in charge of documentary heritage, scholars, researchers and individuals.

“The documentary heritage must be preserved to make it available to everyone and transmissible under the best conditions to future generations," Dr Asamoah-Hassan said.

 Strategies 

For this initiative to be fruitful, Dr Asamoah-Hassan said strategies and legislations such as legal instruments, capacity building, availability of funds, among others, needed to be put in place to ensure the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage.