New System for Birth, Death Registration

The Births and Deaths Registry plans to institute a Community Population Registration Programme to facilitate access to data on the dead. It is hoped to commence by March 2002 depending on the availability of funds.

Mr. S.P Ankrah Registrar of Births and Deaths Registry dropped the hint when he presented a statement on innovation in his outfit in conformity with the new Service Delivery Standards in the Civil Service.

The programme would be channeled through the District Assemblies which would appoint the operational officers from the various Unit Committees to execute the job.

Each Unit is expected to cover at least 1000 people and the agents would keep track of all registered Ghanaians in the community and record cases of death for easy access at the district assemblies.

Nana Osei Kufuor, Chief Registration Officer of Births and Deaths Registry explained that beside the 386 registration offices in the country, 16,000 community registers would be opened in line with the Assembly concept and each unit is expected to get one register to cover every individual in the community of at least 1000 people.

He claimed that though the scheme was a laudable one, a hundred percent data on the deceased is not possible owing to movement of people from one geographical location to another. Even in developed countries it is difficult to get hundred percent data because of human error he added. The Community programme apart from providing data for planning is expected to complement efforts by the Electoral Commission (EC) to delete names of the deceased from the Voters' Register.

On his part Dr Robert Dodoo Head of the Civil Service noted that the expectation of the role of the Public Administration system in the new era, calls for a civil service which is efficient and effective, performance - oriented, pro-active to the private sector and in short customer focussed and responsive to societal needs.

The occasion was part of the launch of service delivery brochures in Ministries and government departments who provide direct counter services to the public.

The Geological Survey Department, Information Services Department, Passport Office, Rent Control Department and the Public Works Department(PWD) are some of the Civil Service departments reviewed.