Many children in Ghana today are born without any form of registration whatsoever, and many Ghanaians die and are buried without the mandatory death registration.
According to the Acting Registrar of the Births and Death registry, John Yao Agbeko, about 35-40 percent of new born babies are not captured in the country’s birth row and an additional 60-70 percent deaths also go unregistered.
He explained that these children who are not captured on the national data, put pressure on social amenities because they are not factored in any planning processes since they “remain excluded, invincible and unidentified.”
“In spite of the modest achievement we have made, we need to be mindful that every year between 35-40 percent of children born in our country go unregistered. For this unfortunate ones, the era of childhood as the period of grow, learn and develop ones capability to face the challenges of youth and adult life within a well-protected social and civic environment will be a mirage,” he noted.
Speaking at Citi FM’s round table discussion on a national identification system on Thursday, Mr. Agbeko further revealed that the about “60-70 percent” of deaths that are not registered “also have dire repercussions for surviving loved ones and the nation.”
The Acting Registrar however noted that with the necessary logistics and resources, the registry will be able to provide reliable data to the National Identification authority for a comprehensive identification system in the country.
“No one will deny the fact that the role of the birth and death registry in the establishment of a functional national identification system is an important one. We at the registry believe that the registry needs to be strategically positioned to serve as the primary source for information for all identification processes especially for the National Identification Authority which will in turn provide information for other agencies such as SSNIT, the DVLA, the Electoral Commission and financial institutions as well,” he added.
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana