Abstract

Civil registration is a very important aspect in our daily lives. In whatever society in which we live, it is our fundamental right to be registered and be counted. Status of people has to be recorded in a local civil register so that important rights may be exercised in order to receive the utmost protection and care in the place in which they live. A well-functioning civil registration system helps the government to plan more efficiently, how to use and distributes its resources effectively. Improved civil registration system also helps the government to ensure that all vital events such as birth, marriages and deaths are registered and relevant certificates issued. In Cameroon, the civil status registration is governed by Ordinance No 81/002 of 29th June 1981, herein referred to as the 1981 Ordinance. Law No 2011/011 of 6th May 2011, which modifies and completes some of the provisions of the 1981 Ordinance, the Decree of 2013/03 of 13th February 2013 organising the Civil Status Registration Office, and the Law of 2024/01 of 23rd December 2024 on legal recognition of Customary Marriages. This law regulates the registration of births, marriages, adoptions, deaths, legitimation and recognitions. Nevertheless, this article aims to debunk the weaknesses involved in the civil registration of births and marriages. From our findings, we came to a realisation that the manual registration of births and marriages is labour intensive which is not feasible for a growing population of Cameroon. This has the tendency of having potential weaknesses such as, registration expenses, time fixed for registration, complicated procedures for registration, slowness in delivery of these certificates, etc. To resolve these weaknesses, some recommendation such as, educating and creating awareness on the population on the registration of important events, rectification and reconstitution of the certificates, digitalisation of the civil registrations, bringing civil status centres at the door-steps or nearer to all the users, etc were proposed. In this article, a qualitative research methodology, in which an analytical survey was employ to analysed data gotten from primary and secondary sources. Conclusively, we can affirm that birth and marriage registrations have become issues of utmost importance. In spite of the weaknesses encountered while obtaining the certificates, registration remain compulsory for citizens to benefit and exercise some civil rights.

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