Burn your birth certificates; it’s a stupid system we’ve built – Kofi Bentil

Senior Vice President of policy think tank,  Imani Africa, Kofi Bentil has reacted with disappointment and apparent anger to the reasoning of the Supreme Court that the Ghanaian birth certificate is not proof of one’s Ghanaian citizenship, calling on holders of the birth certificates to burn them given that, at present, they serve no purpose.

“Burn your birth certificates. They only prove that you were born, but you’re standing there so you don’t need that proof. What a stupid system we’ve built?” He riposted sighted by MyNewsGh.com

The opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) had gone to the Supreme Court to request that it declare the birth certificate as one of the proof of one’s Ghanaian citizenship and should be included by the Electoral Commission as one of the documents with which one could register as a Ghanaian voter.

But the Supreme Court dismissed their request.

Now, in its ruling, the Supreme Court explained that the Ghanaian birth certificate does not show proof of one’s Ghanaian citizenship.

This reasoning has been met with much disappointment by some very well-known legal luminaries, who have described the reasoning and conclusion as problematic.

For Mr Bentil, the ruling means that we have built a stupid system for ourselves.

For Kofi Abotsi, a known Constitutional lawyer, the ruling is problematic and has far-reaching consequences for some state institutions such as the Birth and Death Registry and the Passport Office.

The Passport Office which relied on the birth certificate as proof of citizenship has announced that it will take steps to take out the birth certificate and then rely on the National Identification Card, Ghana Card, as the proof of citizenship in the acquisition of Ghanaian passports.

Source:MyNewsGh.com