Ministers promise to hurry up birth certificates registration
THE Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) scrutineer, who is responsible for registration in Moruca Sub–Region, Ms. Heidi James has reminded hinterland residents of the penalties that may be imposed on persons who fail to get registered for birth certificates. She said, since the last electoral period, she visited and, over the last few months, has been making the extra effort to visit more residents from the various sub-regions to enlighten and educate them more about the exercise.
According to her, for the Moruca Sub-Regions, between 75 and 80 birth registration forms have been submitted for the year, of which only 25 were returned, to the region, by the General Registrar Office.
James said, because of this slow process and with the closing date for applications only a few days away, government has promised to ensure that this issue is ironed out in a timely manner.
“For the year, all we received from GRO is 25. When I spoke with Minster Ganga Persaud, he said they had a few delays and they will be working to fix it,” she reported.
James said, resulting from a trip to Barama, 32 persons applied for renewal of birth papers and late registration, while 25 from lower Waini and 15 from Manawarin made the same kinds of applications.
She said, while there has been a good deal of cooperation from the residents, still a large number of persons are without birth papers, who are not allowed to vote and transact other business because they are not the holders of National Identification Cards.

One JP
“We have one Justice of Peace (JP) in the area and he charges a lot of money and we are trying to catch this process which will close Monday and many persons are not in a position to pay him,” James said.
If persons fail to get registered for their birth certificates, it creates a domino effect on the way things should be done and this could result in serious actions by the law, she said.
“We have been getting the cooperation from them, after we had the meeting they came down to look after the birth papers,” she acknowledged.
Since many persons are unable to pay the Justice of the Peace (JP) in the area to look after birth papers, Minster within the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, Mr. Norman Whittaker has undertaken to assist in this regard.
He promised that if the residents there can get their birth papers filled out and sent to his office, he would ensure that the right steps are taken to help.
Over the last two years, some 5,000 people have received birth certificates, as compared to previous years in the Moruca Sub-Regions.