Electoral commission to take over birth, death registrations – AG

Attorney General Dale Marshall has announced plans to transfer the responsibility of birth and death registrations from the Registration Department to the Electoral and Boundaries Commission (EBC). This move aims to streamline the management of vital statistics and improve efficiency in the record-keeping system, he told Parliament.

The attorney general revealed that while the Registration Department has long been tasked with maintaining these records, its role has been limited to issuing certificates without fully processing or managing the data.

“In terms of the births, deaths, and so on, it is planned that that responsibility will be taken away from the High Court Registry and be moved to the Electoral and Boundaries Commission where it more properly belongs,” he told lawmakers from the Well of Parliament during debate on the Appropriation Bill on Monday.

He said: “I believe, and I’m not able to quote any historical research, but I believe that a lot of things devolved onto the Registration Office simply because it was a government agency that was seen as being in a central place and therefore all births and deaths were sent to the Registration Department.

“They don’t process it, and there’s nothing that they’re required to do with it except churn out birth and death certificates when called upon to do so. It has long been considered by this administration that the best place for collecting information relating to births and deaths [is] the people who actually use it. The people who have to work out whether or not a person should be getting an ID card at the age of 16.”

The attorney general emphasised that the EBC is the more appropriate body to handle such data, given its responsibility for managing voter registration and ID cards, processes that rely heavily on up-to-date birth and death records.

“The truth is, it is an anachronistic process and really needs to leave the Registration Department,” said Marshall. “That is being worked on and hopefully, very soon you will see that happening. You will see the Electoral and Boundaries being responsible for the collection, collation and management of our vital statistics.”

Marshall also expressed the view that birth registration should ideally be handled at the place of birth rather than through a central registry: “So that where the person is born, the QEH (Queen Elizabeth Hospital) or something like that should really be, the entity, the body, the place responsible for certifying that a birth took place on any, on any given time.”

In addition to the birth and death registration changes, the attorney general addressed ongoing efforts to tackle a significant backlog in the probate process. Engaging experienced attorneys to review probate files has led to improvements, with the backlog now reduced to a year behind schedule. He expressed confidence that, with continued efforts, the situation will be further alleviated in the near future  (FW)