“I think we need a legislative review to firm up the circumstances where people can change their names and dates of birth. The adoption of blanket identity has serious implications on society.
Prof. Attafuah told journalists in Accra at the launch of the first ever comprehensive book on notaries public practice in Ghana.
The book, authored by Daniel Yaw Abaidoo, a lawyer, delves into law, cases and research materials of the notaries public practice.
Prof. Attafuah noted that when people change their date of birth and reduce their ages by 10 to 15 years, it had varied implications on Ghana’s Social Security and National Insurance and the NIA.
“Minor issues are different, but a whole 10-year variation has implications on Pension Schemes and the database of the NIA which all institutions ride on for data.”
The former CEO of NIA said people change their identity without recourse to any legal endorsement to establish the authenticity of their claims.
He said under the current dominant practice, people go to some lawyers and notary public with a name like Ama Mansah and that person wanted to be Akosua… “she gets an affidavit stamped or endorsed, takes it to Ghana Publishing Company, pay a fee and have it gazetted or notorised.’
He said these issues ought to receive the attention of the government and people also need to be educated on the right things to do.
He said role of notaries public and lawyers in general in identity management and document verification was vital in Ghana.
According to him, he has also been concerned about the legal effect of the publication of gazette notifications credited solely on the mere say of a person on statutory publication or deposing to an affidavit before a notary public or a lawyer.
He said some change of name resulted in a new identity and those people assume new identity unconnected to what the deponent previously possessed.
“As a CEO of the NIA, I made a lot of enemies from people big and small, wanting to change their names and identities just because they got the paper that they say a lawyer authenticated, they took to Ghana Publishing, and it was published by gazetting and that enables Kweku Agyemang Opoku to become Philip Amponsah Wonderful.”
He said these acts often resulted in criminality and reduced the work of the notary public to being a rubber stamp.
GNA
