Renowned Political Scientist at the University of Ghana, Prof Ransford Gyampo, has said that the Supreme Court ruling that birth certificate is not a form of identification was largely as a result of the flaws of the birth certificate as a form of identification.
According to him, anyone can procure a birth certificate and the fact that it lacks biometric features, makes the document less authentic in serving as a means of identification.
Also, the information it contains may not necessarily be traceable to the holder of the certificate. Again, the fact that the Births and Death Registry isn’t an autonomous agency, but operates in the shadows of the district assemblies, makes its processes quite politicised and manipulable.
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“But can we completely abandon a fundamental document that certifies birth? If it cannot serve as a form of identification, at birth, then what value do we place on it?” he posted on his Facebook page.
Ghana’s Supreme Court has unanimously held that birth certificate is not a form of identification. The court explains that the document does not establish “the identity of the bearer”.
This is contained in the court’s judgment in the case filed by private citizen Mark Takyi Banson which court delivered judgment on June 25 together with the case filed by the opposition National Democractic Congress.
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