A businessman, Banjamin Quashie is asking whoever succeeds President Akufo-Addo as Ghana’s president to get the Supreme Court to rescind its decision that rejected the birth certificate as a primary document in determining one’s citizenship.
“The issue that the birth certificate is not something that proves that you are a citizen or cannot authenticate one’s nationality as a Ghanaian is so wrong. It’s a shame,” he asserted.
Ghana’s Supreme Court unanimously held that birth certificate is not a form of identification in a landmark ruling in July 2020, few months to the 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections.
But speaking in a recent interview with Accra-based Happy FM, Mr. Quashie, who is the Group Chairman of Allied Consortiums based in South Africa, believes the decision is retrogressive.
“It is only in Ghana that we hear that your birth certificate is not something that proves that you are a citizen. My birth certificate is the first thing I received that makes me a citizen of Ghana because when I was born, I had no identification as a Ghanaian,” he argued.
“The law says your birth certificate cannot prove that you are a citizen. This is a retrogressive law. I don’t know who thought about it. I don’t know who came up with that idea, but I felt that it was a shame that was perpetuated on Ghanaians and the legal system allowed it not because they couldn’t talk, but they didn’t have the political maturity to do it.”
According to Mr. Quashie, “If I were the president of Ghana, the first thing I will do is to get some experts to come back; let’s make the birth certificate a primary document that every Ghanaian needs to use to become a citizen. We should ensure that the identification system is apolitical; there should be no political interference when it comes to getting your numbers as a country. That is where you know how to develop your country using that as your base.
“For me I think that the best thing that any president can do is to get this whole idea revisited. The Supreme Court can be called again to rule on it…I think the Supreme Court erred in that judgment.”
Mr. Benjamin Quashie’s company, Allied Consortiums deals in real estate, oil and gas, financial services, telecommunications among others in South Africa with branches in Ghana.
As part of its corporate social responsibility to the Ghanaian society, it has provided hospital equipment and potable water to some communities in the Eastern, Volta and Northern regions of Ghana. In an effort to bring hope and put smiles back on the faces of people, Allied Consortiums recently presented 10 mechanised boreholes to Ayensuano community.