Some applicants for birth and death certificates have lamented what they say is the rot at the Births and Deaths Registry.
They say the situation has led some of them into the hands of middlemen who prove to be more reliable but sometimes spend their monies without delivering.
There have also been allegations that foreign nationals take advantage of the seeming weak processes to acquire birth certificates when they were neither born in Ghana nor are Ghanaians.
The Birth and Deaths Registry is the national nerve centre for critical data and certification that show that a person is born in Ghana or has died in the country.
Sanitary conditions here are poor, with heaps of refuse at nearly every turn. The stench of urine dominate parts of the head office.
Furniture for applicants are in a state of disarray and distress was the look nearly every applicant here wore.
Citi News’ Caleb Kudah, who spent time investigating these concerns, reported that many have managed to acquire what the certificates from more reliable middlemen.
Those who are stressed will not leave without venting their anger.
But consistently he saw a crop of people who looked happy and discovered they were neither staff nor applicants.
They were the middlemen, better known as goro boys, who cashed in on the distress of applicants.
He spoke to one of them who told him that with some GHS 200 or GHS500 he could get what I want when officially one is required to spend less than GHS 100.00
Throughout his visits, only one person told him of timely acquisition of certificates without resorting to goro boys.
One of the applicants who had to restart the process all over again because officials of the Birth and Death registry inputted wrong information on his certificate after several visits alleged that the poor services coupled with the presence of goro boys make it possible for some foreign nationals to acquire certificates that show they are Ghanaians.
With this in hand, they are able to able for Ghanaian passports and even acquire voters ID cards.
According to insider sources, the system has been down for weeks.
Printers were not functioning, processes have halted.
But the Registrar, Rev. Kingsley Addo said all is well but blamed the congestion on applicants who fail to adhere to laid down procedures.
He also advised the public against sidestepping laid down procedures a situation that leads them into the hands of goro boys, where he cannot be held accountable.
Commenting on the decrepit state of the head office of the Birth and Death Registry, Rev. Addo indicated that plans are advanced to relocate the facility.
I asked Rev. about allegations that foreign nationals acquire birth certificates due to the preponderance of goro boys.