Justice Gertrude Araba Esaaba Torkornoo, the nominee for Chief Justice of Ghana, has stated the birth certificate is not proof of a person’s Ghanaian nationality.
The certificate, she said, only proves where the holder was born in Ghana and records who the parents are.
She explained that nationality is a matter of law in Ghana.
This, she said, is unlike certain jurisdictions where being born in that place makes the person a national.
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“Being born in Ghana doesn’t make you a citizen. It is your relationship with your mother… It is your mother’s identity, your father’s identity. It is your lineage that determines your citizenship.”
Speaking at her public vetting by the Appointments Committee of Parliament on Thursday 26th May 2023, the nominee noted that the acquisition of a birth certificate is an international requirement and does not determine a person’s nationality in Ghana.
That form, she said, assists to determine a person’s antecedents but beyond that, a person’s nationality is only derived from the information.
According to her, the birth certificate is therefore not evidence of Ghanaian nationality but is the beginning of appreciating how a nationality must be determined.
Deputy Ranking Member of the Committee, Hon. Kwame Governs Agbodza who raised the matter argued that on a Ghanaian birth certificate registration form, a person is required to provide particulars of parents including their nationality by ticking a box to indicate whether they are Ghanaians or not.
“When you come to the certificate that is issued to people, the nationality of the person is written quite clearly because the person ticked the two boxes that indicated both parents are Ghanaians and is therefore qualified to be Ghanaian.”
“So if today the Supreme Court is saying a birth certificate is just a mere record of birth. What then is proof of nationality in this country,” he asked.
Justice Gertrude Torkornoo argued, however, that if the birth certificate captures the father or mother as Ghanaian, then it can be concluded the holder is also Ghanaian.
“However, if on the certificate your mother is not Ghanaian and your father is not Ghanaian, the certificate itself is a record that you are not a Ghanaian.”
The nominee was then asked whether a birth certificate issued by the Birth and Death Registrar of the country that says a person is Ghanaian can be used to prove Ghanaian citizenship.
She said no and stressed the birth certificate can never tell a person’s Ghanaian nationality.