The Alarming Truth about the Birth Certificate

“It identifies the holder by the name and face alright, but makes no disclosure of the holder’s identification…and thus fails to meet the citizenship restriction test” (C.J. Georgina Woods on the Birth Certificate).

We obviously live in a world, taking lots of things for granted until something happens and the bitter truth directs us to what should have been the case.

In Ghana, and before July 15, 2020, not many people thought that the Birth Certificate only identifies the holder by name, but in itself cannot be held as proof of citizenship. The Supreme Court spoke this hard truth, throwing many Ghanaians, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs into confusion. This very important Ministry had demanded among other forms of proof of citizenship, the birth certificate.

I rushed to pick my Birth Certificate to scrutinise and find out if there is, indeed, nothing to strictly prove one’s identity. And I found these: 1) Child’s Name: and my name was clearly printed out; 2) Father: and my father’s Name, Occupation, Nationality and Religion appeared; 3) Mother: and only her Maiden Name and Nationality was recorded here. Then it appeared to me that there was some confusion because my father’s nationality appeared as Gold Coast and my mother’s as Ghana. 4) When Born: and 5) Where Born: were correctly stated. 6) Informant: and under it, it read Name in full. Relationship to the child, if any. And this was where I have a problem. The name that appeared identified as my father’s brother, meanwhile, neither of my parents had a relative bearing that name.

After these there are columns for Date of Registration; Signature of Registrar, which had a name printed out but no signature, and then something called Margin.

Then underneath was what was of interest, and it was a declaration which reads: “I……..Registrar of Birth and Deaths for Ghana do hereby certify that the foregoing is a true copy of the entry No…….. in the Register of Births for……..in the…….. Registration District in Ghana, and the Register is now legally in my custody. Given under my hand and Seal in Accra in Ghana this……..day of……..

Signed: Registrar of Births and Deaths; LS.

Incidentally, there is nothing in this declaration that affirms the holder’s citizenship. The only things that come any close are the Nationality of the parents, and even here, nothing indicates the proof of the parents’ citizenship. So the question is how is the Nationality of both parents determined?

I shuddered when I realised that someone can challenge my nationality in court, given that my surname sounds very Irish.

So we can have a situation where a Fulani man from Guinea and his wife from Mali, who both hold their nations’ IDs and identify as such, and live in Lorlorvo in the Shai-Osudoku District of the Greater Accra Region, have a child, born in a hospital. Their details are put on the child’s weighing card and in it they claim they are Ghana nationals. These details will find their way onto the child’s Birth Certificate without any detailed probing to find the authenticity of the nationality of the child’s parents.

Our Birth Certificate is, perhaps, the most abused form of identification, with people swearing an affidavit to change date of birth so that they can serve longer in the public and civil service, or meet the age limit to be able to join the forces and other security services. A credible and reliable form of identification cannot be altered in any way, except change of name. And certainly not date, place of birth and nationality that truly identify the holder.

This is quite alarming, however, we need a basic and primary proof of citizenship, and that should be a Birth Certificate. Could we take the registration of Births to a higher level? Could it be possible to get further proof of Nationality of parents of the child by probing further, like getting such vital information from the traditional leaders of the tribe the parents come from?

One thing we are all assured of is that our chiefs, queenmothers and other traditional leaders are chosen from the indigenes. The home, family and clan of any prospective traditional leader are known by the kingmakers from traditional records which are impeccable. They, in turn, know all families and clans under their jurisdiction.

Our chiefs and queenmothers must endorse the Nationality of the child and his or her parents at the peril of their reputation. Their declaration, to be made on oath, should be made public in the community and assembly so should they lie, they could face the courts, with possible jail sentence and dislodgement from the stool or skin.

This method can guarantee the true and full identity of the holder of the Birth Certificate. Other methods can also be evolved to verify the true Nationality and all other important details of both parents that will appear on the Birth Certificate.

It is in my opinion that we make the Birth Certificate a stone cast primary proof of citizenship which can be used as requirement to obtain other IDs like Ghana Card, Voters ID and passport. Foreigners born in Ghana can also acquire our Birth Certificate, but with different features.

Hon Daniel Dugan   

 

 

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