The Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, has directed the Registrar of Births and Deaths to review the directive banning the registration of some Ghanaian names.
The directive was contained in a 2009 standard operating procedure manual and has been in force since then.
However, Ghanaians have been outraged since last week when the issue arose again following newspaper publications about the Registrar’s determination to ensure that names such as Nana, Ohemaa, Nii, Naa, are not registered
Mr. John Agbeko, a Registrar at the Births and Deaths Registry had argued that the names are not names for purposes of registration and identification but titles.
Following the public outrage, Parliament summoned to the House, the Local Government Minister, Alima Mahama whose ministry has supervisory jurisdiction over the Registry to explain the rationale for the directive especially since there is no law backing the action.
On Tuesday, January 30, 2018, the Minister and the Registrar appeared before the House where Alima Mahama told MPs the latter had been directed to review the standard operating procedure to allow for the registration of the names.
“Considering that the SOP serves as an operational guideline for the registration of births and deaths, coupled with the sentiment expressed by the public, the acting Registrar of Births and Deaths Registry has been directed to review the SOP and further directed that names such as Paapa, Nana, Nii, and so on as given by the parents should be accepted for registration,” she said.
The minister said the Registry should be concerned with just official titles such as Reverend, Dr., Mr, Miss amongst others.
