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Ga East births and deaths office embarks on mass registration

The Department of Births and Deaths of the Ga East Municipal Assembly (GEMA) has commenced a mass registration and issuance of birth certificate exercise in the Municipality.

Date Created : 11/8/2021 : Story Author : Ghanadistricts.com

The exercise, aimed at increasing the number of birth registration and issuance of birth certificates in the Municipality, is being carried out in phases in selected communities within each of the ten (10) Electoral Areas of the Assembly.

The exercise is categorized into three (3) as registration of children under one (1) year, children over one (1) year, and change of old certificate to biometric one.

Phase one of the exercise took place at Haatso on Saturday, 23rd October, 2021, where a total of 393 registrations were done made up of 27 children under 1 year, 324 children over 1 year, and 54 being change of old certificate.

The Head of the Ga East Municipal Births and Deaths Department, Mr. Benjamin Acheampong, in an interview with the media, said his outfit targets to register all children under 1year and over who do not have birth certificate in the Municipality.

He indicated that they have identified that many residents of the Municipality do not possess the new birth certificate or none at all which, according to him, puts enormous pressure on their offices at Abokobi (Main Office) as well as Abokobi and Dome Zonal Councils, as they rush for their certificates to be done to meet various urgent needs.

"It’s about mass registration. We wanted to register the children, especially those below one year. Those (children under 1 year) without birth certificates, we want to register them free-of-charge in the municipality. And those above one year too, we also register them at a fee. Even with that the Government has subsided some of them at 50 cedis per person but when you come to the office it’s 100 cedis", he explained.

Mr Acheampong disclosed that the Department would continue to roll out such mass registration exercises after the current one runs out to ensure that, if not all, majority of the children in the Municipality are registered and issued with a biometric birth certificate.

"We wanted to at least register all, especially children below one year in the municipality", he explained. We don’t want a situation where a child will be over one year and not have a birth certificate. At least every child below 1 year should have a certificate. That’s the main purpose of the programme", he added.

"We are done with Haatso. We will be going to Agbogba, Kwabenya. It’s about the whole Municipality so we will be going to all the Electoral Areas to register the kids. Wednesday will be for Ablorh Adjei, Saturday for Agbogba", he continued.

The Presiding Member (PM) for the Ga East Municipal Assembly, and Assembly Member for Haatso, Jesse Nii Noi Anum, who visited the registration centre to monitor the exercise expressed great delight at the move by the B&D Department, stressing on the need for it to be organized frequently to ensure most people get birth certificate.

"The exercise has made me realize a lot of Ghanaians don't have birth certificate. A programme that started 7am on Saturday, people are asking to be allowed to sleep in queues in my house. The programme was supposed to close after 8pm and till date people are trooping in to be registered", he said.

The PM bemoaned the practice where birth certificates are not issued at the place of birth and recommended the situation be looked at and addressed as it goes a long way to facilitate generation of credible database for the planning of the nation's development.

"I believe this stems from a systematic failure where babies are not issued with birth certificates at birth. Moreover, some might even not have the means of paying so Government should consider it as a social intervention for the those who cannot afford to pay for the biometric birth certificate", he proposed.

Nii Noi Anum commended the B&D Department of the Assembly for the initiative and called for more of such.

"The intention that the Birth and Death Registry will be moving weekly to other Electoral Areas within the Municipality is laudable", he said.

Prior to the commencement of the exercise in each designated community, sensitization activities are carried out in the various electoral area in the form of community announcement with information van to create awareness and attract greater participation by the resident-citizens.

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Ga East births and deaths office embarks on mass registration

Date Created : 11/8/2021 : Story Author : Ghanadistricts.com

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