Registration of under five children in Kagera next month

THE Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA) in partnership with stakeholders   will start to register and issue birth certificates to children under five in Kagera region starting next month, it has been disclosed.

RITA  Communications Officer, Mr Jafari Malema, told the ‘Daily News” in an interview  on Thursday that to-date  23 regions had already been covered under the programme  while three regions-namely Kagera, Kigoma and Dar es Salaam would be covered starting next month.

“We are happy that to-date at least   23 regions had already been covered during the Under-five Registration Programme.

The remaining three regions-namely Kagera, Kigoma and Dar es Salaam would be covered starting next month. We are optimistic that the exercise will be completed soon,” he said.

The other public institutions, which deal with issues of registration and identification, were the Tanzania Intelligence and Security Service (TISS), Immigration Department and National Identification Authority (NIDA).

He explained that RITA officials recently completed a baseline survey in Kagera region which aimed to rectify some of the challenges faced in other regions.

The data collected during the baseline survey was being processed and would be compiled under the Birth Registration System (BRS), he hinted.

He elaborated that Kagera region is expected to register and provide certificates to children under five years old through health centres and local government officers.

Mr Malema explained further that the registration of under-five children was an important exercise because it enabled the government in the planning process.

Birth registration is a process of recording a child’s birth, it is a permanent and official record of a child’s existence and provides legal recognition of that child’s identity.

At a minimum, it establishes a legal record of where the child was born and who his/her parents are. Birth registration is required for a child   to get a birth certificate-his or her first legal proof of identity.

Not only is birth registration a fundamental  human right, it also helps ensure that children’s other rights are upheld –like the rights to protection from violence, and essential social services like health care and justice.

The information collected from birth registration records helps governments decide where and how to spend money, and what areas to focus on for development programmes, such as health, education and immunization.