…as Bill to improve birth registration passed
The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill of 2021 was passed in the National Assembly on Tuesday, but not before a heated debate over the amendments which seek to make registration of births a seamless process.
The main Opposition A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) took issue with the bill, with AFC Member of Parliament (MP) Khemraj Ramjattan claiming it contained loopholes that could be exploited.
He went on to cast doubt on the credibility of random Justices of the Peace (JPs) and Commissioners of Oath, who will be empowered through the amendment to make changes to birth registration details upon request, rather than just Magistrates.
The Opposition also aimed concerns at Venezuelan migrants, with MP Amanza Walton-Desir reminding of the border controversy. Walton-Desir, an Attorney-at-Law and shadow Foreign Affairs Minister, was of the view that Guyana could be subverted from within by these migrants.
“It’s no secret that we share a porous border. There’s no secret that there are over 50,000 Venezuelans in Guyana. This is a nation with which we have had for decades a simmering border controversy. And which, directly, touches and concerns our sovereignty,” Walton-Desir said.
“We in this House are acutely aware that our sovereignty can be undermined through the use of force by that neighbouring state… we must also be cognisant of the fact that our sovereignty can be undermined by the insidious incursion of thousands of persons pouring across our borders as refugees.”
However, Attorney General Anil Nandlall made it clear that there was nothing sinister afoot with the Bill. He noted that the Government was just making life easier for citizens in far-flung areas, by amending archaic legislation that was inherited.
“All this seeks to do, is to remove a timeframe. Right now, the law is if there’s a mistake in the name or no name, the parents can go to a registrar within 12 months and effect the change. Outside of the 12 months, you have to go to a magistrate.
“We are removing the time frame and we are removing the requirement to go to a magistrate. And we are empowering the child, when they reach the age of 18, to change it themselves. What is heinous about that? What is sinister about that? We are simplifying the process,” Nandlall said.
He also noted that based on the utterances of Opposition MPs like Ramjattan, the APNU/AFC was woefully unaware of what citizens go through on the ground. According to Nandlall, these are issues that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) encounters in its political outreaches. It is an issue encountered recently in the village of Masakanari, popularly known as Gunns, in Region Nine (Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo).
“I don’t know who on that side does political work. But on this side, we do a lot of political work. House to house work. And every single election, in every single community, no matter how you comb it from one end to the other, the next election you go back and you find someone who is not registered. And they have no birth certificate.
“If somebody in… you know where Gunns is Mr Ramjattan? You can’t go there other than by a (helicopter). You think, other than a Toshao or an elderly person in that village, who you think has any record of the birth of a person who has never been registered? Why don’t you pay attention to the peculiarities of your society as a leader and come up with exigent plans to address the anomalies that exist in your country?” Nandlall went on to ask.
Meanwhile, Governance and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Gail Teixeira noted that there were a number households headed by single mothers and many Guyanese, mostly females, with only one name.
She said that the amended bill fixes the problem by allowing for the parent to choose any name for the child. Additionally, the Minister highlighted that there were many people in the hinterland without identification cards due to the lack of a birth certificate.
Walton-Desir
