Discusses the problems associated with managing semi-current and non-current in many archival institutions in eastern and southern Africa. The article seeks to answer some basic questions such as: Why do archival institutions in the region have backlog accumulations? What is the level of awareness of the problems associated with backlog accumulations? What is the capacity of archives to handle records created by governments? What mechanisms need to be put in place to avoid backlog accumulations ever becoming a problem again in the region? Finally the article proposes a strategy for dealing with backlog accumulations.