Parliament summons Local Govt Minister over Births and Deaths registry’s directive

• Members on both sides of the house are not satisfied with the Birth and Death Registry’s fatwa for the non-registration of some local name

• The Speaker has summoned officials of the Registry

• OccupyGhana has served notice to the Attorney General to get the Registry to reverse the decision or they sue government

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Parliament has summoned the Local Government Minister and officials of the Births and Deaths Registry to come respond to questions on plans to bar Ghanaians from registering some local names.
Members of Parliament including Minority Leader, Haruna Iddrisu, and Joseph Osei Owusu are unhappy with the directive and are demanding the legal basis for which the registry has issued this directive.

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The order is seen, not only, as discriminatory but also one that opposes efforts to encourage Ghanaians to use local names to project their African identity.
The Registry had maintained, the use of local names like Nana, Torgbui, Nii, Maame, Junior which it says are titles, was not permissible by the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1965 (Act 301).
But ruling on the issue, Speaker Prof Mike Ocquaye asked the minister to appear in the house on Tuesday over the issue.

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Also, Pressure group OccupyGhana has also served notice of heading to court on the matter if the Attorney General fails to call the registry to order.
According to OccupyGhana’s Head of Communications, Nana Sarpong Agyemang Badu, the law does not mandate the Birth and Death Registry to deny registration of such names.