Births registry to introduce new law to check “born again” certificates

Ghana News Agency (Accra) – Reverend Kingsley Asare Addo, acting registrar of the Births and Deaths Registry, has said a new law on births and deaths is in the offing to address difficulties of adult and late registration of births.

He described such issues as “born again certificates”, because they involve people who already have birth certificates but who, because they want to change some information about themselves, end up doing multiple registrations.

Reverend Asare Addo was speaking at the second virtual Results Fair in Accra, organised by the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation.

The event, which was on the theme of “Promoting Efficiency and Accountability in Public Service Delivery”, offered agencies and ministries implementing the 17 priority areas to share their achievements with the public.

Digital system

Kingsley Asare Addo said when the law becomes operational, the registry will collaborate with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to set up offices at district level and focus on registration at birth to curtail these pitfalls.

He said the registry is in discussion with the government to help digitise its 16 million-plus manual records to address the challenge of multiple registration and improve service delivery.

Reverend Asare Addo said that, in 2013, the government waived fees for children born within a year for birth certification and urged parents to take advantage of this policy. 

Name change

Responding to a question about whether an individual could make a name change on his or her birth certificate, Asare Addo said this could be done by going through a process, including swearing an affidavit.

He urged the public to apply for an extraction of a birth certificate if they lose their original, and said that applying for a new certificate amounts to multiple registration.

Reverend Asare Addo noted that if well resourced, the institution could provide timely and accurate data for identification and legal purposes.

He said the institution is facing several challenges, including a shortage of human resource to propel its mandate and financial constraints.

Ghana equally faces development challenges because it has not developed ways of using “factual data”, he said. He stressed that it was time the registry was given the attention it needs to function effectively.

The Births and Deaths Registry was established within the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, by Act 301 of 1965, to handle and develop the births and deaths registration system in Ghana.

Its core business is to provide accurate and reliable information on all births and deaths occurring within Ghana’s borders by registering and certifying all birth and death events, thereby ensuring the country’s socio-economic development.

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