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Register public, private burial grounds - MMDAs tasked

Register public, private burial grounds - MMDAs tasked

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, has directed all metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to register public and private burial grounds within their jurisdiction as a matter of urgency.

She has also directed the local authorities to enforce the law that requires the public to acquire a death certificate before they bury their dead relatives.

“Let me remind the public that it is illegal in this country to bury deceased persons without the registration and acquisition of a burial permit or death certificate. Burial without permit is prosecutable and so no one should think that they can get away with it,” she stressed.

The minister gave the directive in a speech read on her behalf by the Deputy Minister,  Mr O.B. Amoah, at the launch of the Birth and Death and Awareness Creation Campaign in Accra  yesterday.

The campaign was launched on the theme: “An Efficient Birth and Death Registration System: The Key to Promoting Legal Identity for All.”

The law

The Births and Death Act (Act 301, 1965) makes it mandatory for all births and deaths in the country to be registered in accordance with the law.

The law requires that all deaths are to be registered within 14, days while stressing that all deaths ought to be registered at the Birth and Death Registry before burial can take place.

However, records at the Birth and Death Registry show that only one out of five deaths are registered across the country, while only a third of the total births in the country are registered.

The defect in the registration of these important milestones, according to the minister, has created unreliable data for the formulation of social policies and national development planning.

Implement law

Underscoring the critical role an efficient birth and death registration system played in national development, she urged MMDAs to devise innovative strategies to register all births and deaths.

Responding to a question on the punishment for persons who failed to register deceased relatives at the Birth and Death Registry before burying them, Mr Amoah said such people would be sanctioned.

He said a process to review the Births and Death Act (Act 301, 1965) had begun and added that a stakeholder consultation was ongoing to that effect.

“People who fail to comply with the law will be sanctioned. If you do the wrong thing, we will give you some time to mourn your dead relative but after that, the law will be applied as required. Offenders could be fined or go made to through other punishments provided in the law,” he stressed.

Challenges

According to the United Nations (UN), there ought to be a birth and death registration office for every 5,000 people. With Ghana’s population estimated to be 28 million, it means that there is the need for 5,600 birth and death registration offices to ensure efficient registration.

However, figures at the Birth and Death Registry show that there are only 512 registration offices across the country, with a staff strength of 376. This implies that on the average, there are about 51 registration offices in all the 10 regions, with a national deficit of about 5,088 registration offices.

The acting Director of the Birth and Death Registry, Mr John Yaw Agbeko, described the current situation as a major setback to the efficient registration of births and deaths in all parts of the country.

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