Monrovia – Comparing the administration of Madam Mary Broh and the current management of the Bureau of Vital Statistic, many that spoke to FrontPageAfrica in an interview said services have gone from bad to worse.
Report by Henry Karmo – [email protected]
When asked whether the claims made against him, Solo Barton, head of the Bureau responded by asking our reporter whether he was President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s relative.
Asked what was the meaning of his question, he said: “Because that is the only person who name I will hear and get afraid, so if you are not than you are wasting your time.”
According to them, the one week time frame set by Broh to file and receive birth certificates is no longer in place with the current management performing dismally in service delivery.
People who visit the bureau these days often fall victims of extortions given the bureaucracy in receiving birth certificates.
According to some, favouritism is another major challenge that needs the urgent attention of the government.
Under the management of Madam Broh, it took a maximum one week to receive a birth certificate after a thorough vetting and filing process.
Some praised the former director Broh for putting in place a system that prohibited extortion and third party intervention and one could get fired if they were caught in the act.
Contrary to the Broh administration, currently people who go to the Bureau to obtain birth certificates are faced with unnecessary bureaucracy, forcing many to pay extra fees to employees at the bureau if they their process is to be expedited.
One of the many who are victims of the act told this paper Wednesday that she has trekked between Margibi County and Monrovia for more than a month to receive her birth certificate but has not received it as yet.
“My brother more than one month I have run after this certificate, but I’m yet to receive it. Every day they will tell me to go come tomorrow, so I am disappointed. I need my birth certificate to obtain my passport.”
Mary Monffuer a mother of three said she has filed in for her three children for Birth certificate but for the past seven weeks she is yet to receive the certificates from the Bureau and according to her she is disappointed in the delays.
“What is more disappointing is that after your certificate is being delayed it comes to you with errors the guys in the printing room are not doing well.”
“All the people you see sitting in the queue, bulk of them are here because of error or because their documents have been delay ask them to verify what I am saying this is disappointing we cannot continue to run our country like this,” he added.
Birth registration is fundamental to ensuring a child’s legal status, their basic rights and services Liberia is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Right of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Right and Welfare of the Child.
The Bureau of Vital Statistics has the responsibility to produce and issue birth certificates to persons born in Liberia regardless of their economic and social status.
The low registration is a result of the over two decades of a highly centralized birth registration system.