Insufficient Storage Space for National Archives and Artefacts

According to the Director of the VCC, Richard Shing, the containers are not a long-term solution that should be relied upon.

 “There’s leakage in the containers, which affects the archives,” he explained.

The Director relayed that some government ministries had to be placed on hold from depositing their archives since there is not enough space to store them all in the archives building.

He mentioned that it has been more than five years now since the storage space had become an issue.

According to him, it is believed that the government was aware of this, however nothing has been made.

Mr. Shing also explained that two options had been proposed as the long-term solutions to this issue, apart from the container storages.

These proposals are to either extend the national archives building, which is currently being used as the national library to create more room for both the library and the archives, or to build a new separate library building, so that the archives can be stored in the current one as initially intended.

The Director mentioned that not only is the National archives/ library building full, but also the National Museum where the country’s artefacts are kept is also full.

He stated that there are only four storage units in the building that has temperature control in it.

And since all these units are full, some of the artefacts are also currently being stored in a container- which again is not a good storage given its leakage.

“What we really need is a new building,” said the Director.

He stated that the VCC will be seeking funds from donors this year, to help implement the proposed solutions previously mentioned.

He added that the issue had been discussed with the Minister of Justice and Community Services, John Still Tari Qetu, during his visit to the Cultural Centre earlier this month.