Birth Registry to roll out law to address 'born again certificates'

The Births and Deaths Registry has said a new law is being fashioned to address issues of adult and late registration of births.

Acting Registrar, Reverend Kingsley Asare Addo, described such issues as “born again certificates” because there were people who already had birth certificates, but because they wanted to change some information about themselves, they ended up doing multiple registration.

Speaking at the second virtual Results Fair in Accra organised by the Ministry of Monitoring and Evaluation, Rev Asare Addo said when the law becomes operational, the Registry would collaborate with the Ghana Health Service to set up offices at the district level and focus on registration at birth to curtail those pitfalls

He noted that talks are underway with the appropriate authorities to help digitise the registry’s manual records to address the challenge of multiple registrations

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

On whether an individual can make a name change on the birth certificate, the Registrar said it could be done by going through a process including the swearing of an affidavit.

He urged the public to apply for the extraction of birth certificates when they lose a birth certificate, adding that going for a new certificate would amount to multiple registration.

Rev Addo noted that if well resourced, the Registry could provide timely and accurate data for identification and legal purposes, mentioning shortage of human resource to propel its mandate and financial constraints as the main challenges facing the organisation.