Title name ban scrapped

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has directed the Births and Deaths Registry to review the controversial ban on indigenous title names.

This follows the refusal of the Registrar of the Births and Deaths Registry to recognise names such as Nana, Naa, Nii, Ohemaa, Junior, Papa among others because they consider them as title.

The decision, which caused huge uproar among Ghanaians, led to parliament summoning the sector Minister, Hajia Alima Mahama and the Registrar.

Addressing lawmakers on Tuesday, 30 January 2018, Hajia Mahama said the Registrar has been asked to review the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of the registry to ensure that title names will be recognised and ensure that they will be registered.

She told the lawmakers that: “Section 3.3 of the SOP [of the Deaths and Births Registry] deals with particulars of the child and states that titles should not be added to the names like Reverend, Alhaji, Doctor, Colonel, Nana, Junior, Senior and so on among others.

“Considering that the SOP, first, as an operational guideline for the registration of Births and Deaths, coupled with the sentiments expressed by the public, the acting Registrar of Births and Deaths Registry has been directed to review the SOP and further directed that names such as Nana, Nii, Paapa and so on as given by the parents should be accepted for registration. The Registry should be concerned with official titles such as Reverend, Doctor, Mr, Mrs, Honourable and so on”.