08 May 2017

Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Mr Edwin Batshu has informed residents of Tsokatshaa in Nata/Gweta constituency that both parents are responsible for the registration of child birth.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Tsokatshaa last Friday, Mr Batshu noted that some parents, in particular fathers, have a tendency of not taking responsibility in ensuring that their children had proper documents as required by the law.

In many instances, he said fathers deemed it the responsibility of mothers, adding that it was not right as a child was for both parents, hence they had equal rights as well as responsibilities.

Minister Batshu, who is also the Member of Parliament for Nkange, noted that the Birth and Death Act stipulated that a child born alive should be registered within 60 days.

In addition, he stated that both parents were also responsible for ensuring that at the age of 16 a child was registered for the national identification card, adding that there had been cases in which some parents requested payment for assisting their child to register for Omang, saying it was often done by fathers.

“Even if you are separated, it is upon you both as parents to ensure that your child has every document at no cost from either of you,” he said.

He also informed parents that it was important for every child to be registered, noting that it helped the  government to plan for the future by catering for all children that had been born in a particular period.

Furthermore, the minister urged residents to also register the death of their departed family members, adding that it was also a requirement by law to have a death certificate of a person who was dead.

He explained that registering deaths helped cutting costs endured by the government from the programme he/she had been benefitting from. He explained that such costs would be diverted to other projects aimed at benefiting other Batswana.BOPA