Speaker of Parliament, Prof. Aaron Mike Oquaye
The decision by the Births and Deaths Registry not to register people with names like Nana, Nii, Togbe, Junior and Nhyira attached to their surnames has obviously angered Members of Parliament (MPs).
They have therefore summoned the Registrar and the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to appear before parliament to explain why that decision and where they are deriving their powers from for the implementation of that fiat.
At yesterday’s sitting, the minority leader, Haruna Iddrisu, raised the matter and referred to a publication in the Heritage newspaper which had made reference to the Registrar of Births and Deaths, John Agbeko, as having publicly given that directive.
He pointed out that the registrar does not have that singular power to issue such a directive.
He said he had personally gone through the Births and Deaths Registry Act of 1965 (Act 301) and that there is no portion which imposes a ban on the registration of names like Nana, Nii, Naa, Togbe, Junior and Nhyira.
He said such names have relevance in the Ghanaian culture and so Ghanaians recognize them as proper names.
He said if the registrar wants a revision of the law, he should know the right place to send it – parliament.
“The Births and Deaths Registry and the Ministry of Local Government do not have such powers to unilaterally change the law. They should stop that illegality,” the minority leader charged.
The first deputy speaker, Joseph Osei-Owusu, who spoke passionately about the issue, said that the law has been written in ‘quotes’ and cannot just be changed without going through the appropriate procedure.
He said he had been calling his father ‘Papa Osei-Owusu’ and therefore if he decides to name his son after his father, then by that singular act of imposing the ban, he cannot give that name to his son.
The majority leader, Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, was also strongly against the directive, arguing that by that order, all those using names such as Nana – like President Nana Akufo-Addo – which is his official name, can no longer be used.
He therefore supported the call that the registrar and the minister appear before parliament to explain the rationale behind such an order.
The speaker, Prof Mike Oquaye, has therefore asked the Registrar of the Births and Deaths and the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development to appear before the house on Tuesday, January 30, to explain why the fiat.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr