RBDA dictates the remedy to ‘hiccup’

Dear Editor,

I write in response to an article written by Margarette May MaCaulay in the All Woman magazine of the Jamaica Observer dated Monday, January 8, 2024, titled ‘A Jamaican citizenship hiccup’. Someone queried how to obtain a birth certificate when the birth record has no surname and the person has passed away.

The Registrar General’s Department (RGD) would like to thank MaCaulay for her contribution to the article. Additionally, we seek to further clarify some of the issues highlighted in the article.

A statutory obligation is one which is required, permitted, and enacted by law. In the case of the RGD, the primary statute which governs how the Department conducts its business is The Registration (Births and Deaths) Act, 1881 (RBDA).

The RBDA, section 11 (1) states inter alia that subject to section 12 in the case of every child born alive, it shall be the duty of the father and mother of the child to give to the registrar, within 42 days after the birth, information of the particulars required to be registered as indicated in Form A of the First Schedule, and in the presence of the registrar.

However, while your article does not indicate whether the grandfather’s parents were married, careful note should be taken of RBDA section 19 (1), which states that where the parents of a child are not married to each other at the time of the child’s birth and were not married to each other at, or since, the time of its conception, the name of, and any particulars relating to, any person as father of that child shall be entered by the registrar in the registration form and counterfoil in certain specified circumstances. It should be noted that these circumstances are subject to subsections (2) and (3) of said Act. These circumstances are:

i) if the mother and the person acknowledging himself to be the father jointly request at the time of registration that such an entry be made and both the mother and that person together sign the form and counterfoil.

ii) if the registrar is furnished with a declaration in the prescribed form signed by the mother of the child and by the person acknowledging himself to be the father of the child subsection (b)(ii) further provides that the declaration must be executed by each of those persons in the presence of an attorney-at-law, justice of the peace, clerk of the courts, registered medical practitioner, minister of religion, marriage officer, midwife, or the headmaster of any public educational institution as defined in the Education Act.

Despite the foregoing, the RBDA makes provisions for instances in which the father’s particulars were not entered on a child’s birth certificate. Section 19 (3) stipulates that if at any time after the registration of the birth of a child whose father’s name is not registered the registrar general is satisfied that a declaration of paternity in respect of the child has been made by the Supreme Court or Family Court, or that the father has been made a guardian of the child by virtue of subsection (2) of section 3 of the Children (Guardianship and Custody) Act, the registrar general shall authorise the entry in the register of the name of the father and such other particulars relating to the father as are supplied to him.

Section 19A of the RBDA is unequivocal and states that where the birth of any child whose parents were not married to each other at the time of the child’s birth is registered pursuant to section 12, the name of, or any other particulars relating to the father shall not be entered in the register unless the registrar general is satisfied that:

(a) the parents of the child were married to each other either at the time of conception or after conception and before birth.

By virtue of section 19A (2) therefore, where a father’s name or any other particulars relating to him are not in accordance with subsection (1), entered in the register, the registrar general is satisfied by statutory declaration or such other evidence as he may deem sufficient that both the mother and the person acknowledging himself to be the father require the name of or any other particulars relating to the father to be entered in the register of the particulars required to be entered as aforesaid.

A careful reading of the RBDA will show that more than one section speaks to the fact of the parent of the child being married before the details of the person acknowledging himself to be father of the child is entered on a child’s birth certificate or in the alternative that under specified circumstances.

Based on the limited information provided it would appear that a Late Entry of Name (LEN) could cure the defect as long as the requisite supporting evidence along with the declaration form is produced to the RGD.

A LEN can be achieved with:

• a completed LEN form

• death certificate of her grandfather

• marriage certificate (if applicable)

• proof that applicant is related (mother/father birth certificate)

• land title (if applicable)

It ought to be appreciated that it is the requirements of the RBDA upon which the officers of the RGD carry out the requisite registrations.

Note carefully, the RGD does not act of its own volition but has to ensure that the actions of its officers are in conformity with the requisite legislation. It is the legislation, namely the RBDA which stipulates what is to be done and the circumstances in which it is to be done.

One could make the case that the RBDA is in need of modernisation; however, until such time the RGD remains bound by the requirements of same.

It must be noted also that the RGD has taken several steps to make the application process for these types of applicants as seamless and as efficient as possible.

Charlton McFarlane

Chief executive officer

Registrar general and deputy keeper of the records

c/o nicole.whyte@rgd.gov.jm