{"id":395080,"date":"2018-01-25T14:13:04","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T14:13:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=395080"},"modified":"2018-01-25T16:51:27","modified_gmt":"2018-01-25T16:51:27","slug":"blacklisting-title-names-illegal-ace-ankomah-fumes-at-births-registry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2018\/01\/blacklisting-title-names-illegal-ace-ankomah-fumes-at-births-registry\/","title":{"rendered":"Blacklisting ‘title’ names illegal – Ace Ankomah fumes"},"content":{"rendered":"

A private legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah, has described as illegal the Births and Deaths Registry\u2019s blacklisting of certain names<\/strong><\/a><\/span> from being registered in the country.<\/p>\n

Persons who wish to register names such as Nana, Naa, Junior among others, have been turned away in recent times by the Births and Deaths Registry with a reason that such names are considered as titles.<\/p>\n

The Registrar at the Births and Deaths Registry, John Yao Agbeko, justified the action<\/strong><\/a><\/span> saying the law governing the Registry’s operations \u2013 Act 301 (1965), gives them the power to do so.<\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”LGy62IJNXbUG4za2QgDBj9E0dNd4tjkh”]\u201cThere is a law that regulates the activities of the Births and Deaths registry, that law is the Births and Deaths Registration Act 301 of 1965. In this Act, we have a function for the Minister to do a regulation. In the regulation, there is a function for the Registrar to come out with a mode of operation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c…So even though you will not read it in the Act, the regulation allows the registrar to come out with the mode of operation to manage the place, and that is what we have done. That is why if you go to Tamale, the one over there will tell you that you cannot register that name. If you pick that same name and you run to Accra, in order to do same, you will be told you can\u2019t do it,\u201d he explained on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong> on Thursday.<\/p>\n

But in Ace Ankomah\u2019s view, what the Registry is doing \u201cis not in the law, and it is also not in the regulation that was supposed to have been made under the 1965 Act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also sharing his opinion on the issue on the Citi Breakfast Show<\/strong>, Ace Ankomah insisted that the Registry has no right to do that, and\u00a0 instead that they are breaching the law.<\/p>\n

This nonsense must stop!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the law says is that, they should have a mode of operation. The Births and Deaths Registry has no power to make law. Having a mode of operation must comply with the law. So if the fundamental law does not give you a certain power, you cannot be claiming that you have written your own mode of operation to make that power to yourself. So it does not exist, it has no legal basis, that nonsense must stop,\u201d he fumed.<\/p>\n

AG petitioned\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The legal practitioner also said he has petitioned the Attorney General\u2019s department over the matter, and threatened to head to court if persuasion fails.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is backward. It didn\u2019t exist at least in 1990 when I registered my children. This is a recent thing they\u2019ve started. We\u2019ve written to the Attorney General to tell them to stop this. If they don\u2019t, this matter will be going to court. There is no legal basis for that,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana
\nFollow @AlloteyGodwin<\/a>
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