Only five per cent deaths are registered in Upper West

Wa, July 25, GNA - Only five per cent of people who die in the Upper West Region are registered by the Department of Births and Deaths. Last year, the Department recorded 464 deaths as against the total of 17,913 births, Mr. Daniel Adade, Regional Registration Officer told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Wa.

He noted that relatives rush to register their dead only when they want to claim the gratuity of the deceased. Mr. Adade said there was no cost involved in the registration of the dead in the first seven days but beyond that, the applicant would have to pay a fee in addition to a penalty especially when the deceased had been buried.

He explained that any death reported for registration after 12 months would have to be investigated and all the expenses involved borne by the applicant.

Mr Adade announced that the Department in conjunction with Plan Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, is supporting five rural communities selected from five districts in the region to compile their own population registers to enable them to appreciate the value of population in the development of their communities and the nation. The exercise which began in 2006, enumerated all house holds in the beneficiary communities while the people were supplied with registers in which every birth, death, immigrant and emigrant are recorded so that the population figure of the community would be known at any given time. Communities involved in this exercise are Boli in the Wa Municipality, Kundungu in the Wa East District, Lassia-Tuolu in Wa West, Buguballe in Sissala East and Fielmuo in Sissala West. 25 July 09