A
promise delivered- Minister Gajraj opens the doors of the
General Register Office in Berbice
A GINA feature by Michael Gordon
Georgetown, GINA, Monday, January 5, 2004
In keeping with a promise made by President Bharrat
Jagdeo to Berbicians over two years ago, Minister of Home Affairs,
Ronald Gajraj today declared open a new sub-office of the General
Register Office (GRO) at New Amsterdam. Addressing Regional Chairman,
Kumkarran Ramdass, New Amsterdam Mayor, Claude Henry, Registrar
General, Greta McDonald, DSM; Members of Parliament, Regional
officials and members of both the business and religious communities
of Berbice, Minister Gajraj admonished staffers of the new office
to do their duties diligently and with a high level of professionalism.
The Minister noted that it is unfortunate that such an office
could not be established earlier, since Government is faced with
many constraints, mostly of a financial nature. He said that similarly,
a branch of the GRO at Region 2 is currently operating much to
the advantage of residents there.
Added to the fact that residents of Berbice would no longer be
made to bear the cost of traveling to Georgetown to conduct such
business, Minister Gajraj noted that soon after becoming Minister,
he was motivated to decentralize the operations of the GRO in
light of street protests and bomb scares which disrupted the operations
of the office especially in the post-elections periods. He said
it was the people of outlying areas that traveled to the city
to conduct their business who were the ones most affected.
He further called on officers at the new office to seek advice
from the main office where issues are not clear, since there might
be instances where even senior officials may seek to have business
done in a manner that does not comply with the regulations of
the GRO.
Minister Gajraj added that the General Register Office operates
in accordance with the Births and Deaths Act, Chapter 44:01 and
the Marriage Act Chapter 45: 01 respectively, of the Laws of Guyana
and as amended by the Act of 1990. He said it is a department
of the Ministry of Home Affairs whose mission is to maintain and
secure the National Registers and registration forms of births,
deaths and marriages of the Guyanese people and to supply members
of the public, upon request, extracts and other information of
the entries recorded, with a minimum of delay.
The General Register Office is organized into four (4) sections.
These are
Receiving and Dispatching operations, data Processing and Administration.
The Receiving and Dispatching section receives all applications
for birth, death and marriage certificates. Each application would
be checked to ensure that the relevant information of the applicant
is stated, after which the application is recorded in a Register
and then processed by the Operations Section.
Within this section are two Sub-Sections - Search and Transcription.
These two sub-sections are responsible for the storage and retrieval
of information from the registers of births, deaths and marriages.
Once the appropriate register has been retrieved and the necessary
entry found, comparison is made with the information in the application.
It is then forwarded to the Transcription Sub-Section for the
certificates to be written. The certificate is forwarded to the
Receiving and Dispatching Section for transmission to the District
post office.
The responsibility of the Data Processing section is to ensure
that all data in relation to births, deaths and marriages are
recorded. There is also a Special section that deals with all
re-¬registration, late registration, registration of marriages,
adoptions, court orders and other clerical changes. The Minister
noted that as Minister of Home Affairs, he is empowered under
section 13 (1) of the Births and Deaths Act, Chapter 44: 01, by
order to divide Guyana into Registration Districts and subdivide
the Districts into Registration Divisions and add to or diminish
the number of Districts or Divisions and alter the limits of any
of them as from time to time appears necessary.
Today, the Minister said, we are at the opening of the New Amsterdam
facility, which will provide to members of the public, upon request,
extracts of specific information on births, and other matters.
“This Center will provide specific services to residents
of Berbice”, the Minister pointed out. Those services will
include:
• The late registration of births and deaths
• The re-registration of children. This aspect of re-registration
arises where the parents of children who were born out of wedlock,
subsequently marry. Applications are made for re-registration
of the children to allow them to have the surnames of their fathers
• The processing of all Affidavits for minor corrections
to the names on birth certificates
High Court Orders granting the adoption of children in Berbice.
• The processing of marriage petitions; and
• Queries for residents in Berbice.
Three (3) clerks and a supervisor who will be
in charge of this Centre will carry out all the above¬ mentioned
activities. Certificates of births and death provide the various
Ministries of the Government and other Agencies with vital information
and assist in the production of national and regional statistics.
For example, birth certificates provide proof of age, citizenship,
the necessary statistics in relation to voting and work. Also
birth certificates provide access to certain benefits such as
social security and old age pensions.
Children on entering school and when writing examinations will
need birth certificates. Hence the necessity for the issuing of
birth certificates to every child whether born in wedlock or not.
On the issue of death certificates, these documents are used in
the settlement of proof of death, claims of inheritance and life
insurance. Death certificates are necessary in weeding files in
relation to the electoral roles, national insurance and other
social security matters. Minister Gajraj said the responsibility
to carry out vital civil registration lays with the Ministry of
Home Affairs, through its Department - the General Register Office.
Other Ministries, particularly the Ministry of Health, the Ministry
of Labor, Human Services and Social Security and the National
Bureau of Statistics can use this information once it is collected
During the year 2002 the General Register Office issued three
hundred and forty-six thousand (346,000) Birth Certificates. Marriage
Certificates issued totaled thirty-two thousand (32,000), while
Death Certificates issued were twenty thousand (20,000). For the
year 2003, two hundred and twenty-two thousand (222,000) Birth
Certificates, forty-six thousand (46,000) Marriage Certificates
and twenty-four thousand (24,000) Death Certificates were issued.
He pointed out that in its efforts to bring essential services
to the people of Guyana, the Ministry of Home Affairs has opened
this facility. Other facilities will be established in other Regions
so as to meet the needs of residents through the supply of services.
In order to improve civil registration and vital statistics in
Guyana, a Diagnostic Study of the General Register Office was
conducted with a view to computerization.
Further, there is the possibility that a study may be undertaken
to organise the registration centers into groups within the Regions,
so that a network could be formed at the national level and monitored
by the General Register Office. For such a national network to
be implemented and become operational, there would be the need
to create an organizational unit with the General Register Office.
This Unit will undertake the coordination of all the Registration
Centers, both private and public, within Guyana.
The supervision of this Unit could be under an Assistant Registrar
General. Some of the responsibilities of this Unit could be to
develop Instruction Manuals to be used by registrars at the regional
level. The Unit could also be responsible for the training of
registrars. Such training sessions could be carried out within
the various regions, particularly the hinterland regions - 1,7,8,
and 9. While the trainer will be training the individual within
his or her region, at the same time the trainers or senior officials
involved in the training of juniors would be able to acquaint
themselves at first hand level, of the terrain in which the residents
live and the difficulties experienced by both the local registrars
and residents in the interior regions.
There are villages within certain regions where there are difficulties
in reaching the homes of individuals for the purpose of registering
a birth or death. The suggestion was made that Community Health
Workers be all appointed as registrars in their respective communities
so that the registration of births and deaths could be simplified
and the available statistics collected readily. In addition to
the appointment of the Community Health Workers as registrars,
Heads of Primary and Secondary schools in the hinterland regions
could also be appointed.
These appointments may lead to a proliferation of Registrars in
the hinterland regions. However, what is important is that vital
civil statistics will be gathered without difficulty and residents
would be receiving necessary services from the General Registrar
Office with the minimum of delay.
The Minister of Home Affairs called on Berbicians to make full
use of the opportunity that has been provided by the General Register
Office.
Earlier, Regional Chairman Kumkurran Ramdass told the gathering
that the establishment of such an office signifies another milestone
in the development of Region 6. He said that the initial efforts
of his predecessor, Rohit Persaud were instrumental in the final
establishment of the Office. It is Ramdass’ Administration
has provided a space in the compound of the Regional Complex to
house the new GRO sub-office. He said this office opening, follows
closely on the heels of the establishment of a Regional Rights
of the Child Committee IN region 6.
The Region 6 Committee is currently addressing the issuance of
birth certificates to children who were not given such a privilege
by their parents.
New Amsterdam Mayor, Claude Henry was also high in praise at the
establishment of such an office. He said that he is happy to be
associated with this initiative and looked forward to an enhanced
working relationship between the Town Council and the Regional
Administration.
Henry said very often he had cause to call the Georgetown GRO
on persons from Berbice behalf, to assist them in conducting such
business. He said today, the reality is that Berbice has its own
GRO.
No certificates would be issued through the new office. Those
will be processed at the central office in Georgetown and mailed
to residents of Berbice.
TOP
Monday,
January 5, 2004