South West : Civil Status Documents Begging For Computerisation

The role of the judiciary in the civil status documents in the South West Region came under review in Limbe on Tuesday May 24, 2022. This was in a workshop organised by the National Civil Status Registration Office (BUNEC) in partnership with the European Union. Justice Beatrice Nambangi Ntuba, Vice President of South West Court of Appeal, said the judiciary is the entry and exit points of civil status documents (birth, death and marriage certificates.) That the documents are initial by the Presidents of Courts of First Instance before they are handed to the councils to serve the public. After usage, the duplicates are supposed to be returned to the legal department for archiving. Often these documents are not returned.  Again the civil status Registrars are mayors who may not be in office again after five years leading to disconnect. BUNEC has made civil status documents free to citizens but councils still tax exorbitant prices for them. 
Abdoulaye Adjiali Boukar, Deputy General Manager of BUNEC, noted that a study carried out by the BUNEC and the Ministry of Basic Education in 2020 revealed that 1,587,668 pupils were enrolled in schools without birth certificates. He cited law No 2011/011/ of 6 May 2011 on the organisation and function of civil status registration and various provisions relating to the status. However, this law met several challenges and thus discouraged beneficiaries. 
It was at this back...