THE introduction of national ID cards in the country has increased the number of Tanzanians applying for birth certificates, it has been revealed.
According to Registration Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA), before the introduction of national IDs only a few Tanzanians applied for the birth document but to date majority of citizens are demanding for the document as one of the requirements for obtaining the national IDs.
RITA Public Relation Officer Mr Jaffar Malema told the ‘Daily News’ in an exclusive interview that only 13 per cent of Tanzanians had the birth certificates, according to the 2012 census.
“We have been receiving many applications for birth certificates with most of them demanding the document so that they can secure national IDs,” he said, adding that the agency has thus embarked on an initiative to register and issue the birth documents to the Tanzanians.
Mr Malema said RITA, through the decentralised initiative, has opened centres in various regions, rolling out campaigns to reach out to majority of Tanzanians.
In November last year, the agency opened a one stop centre at Mnazi Mmoja grounds in Dar es Salaam, Handeni and Korogwe districts in Tanga, for registering and issuing birth certificates to people aged 18 and above for them to secure national IDs and register their SIM cards.
The agency had targeted to register and issue birth certificates to 10,000 Tanzanians but until yesterday, they had registered and issued birth documents to 15,287 Tanzanians.
He said due to the high demand, RITA is extending the programme to other regions through their offices and opening more centres for more people to have access to the service.
“We are experiencing high demand of the birth certificates from many people – the challenge that gives us (RITA) an opportunity to extend and spread the registration services to the needy,” he said.
In another development, RITA has registered and issued birth certificates to 3.7million (49 per cent) for children aged five and 450,000 primary and secondary school children aged between five and 17.
According to Mr Malemacers , the children under five were issued with the documents through the initiative developed by RITA to increase the proportion of under-five children with birth certificates as well as craft an efficient and effective registration system in Tanzania mainland.
The under-five birth registration initiative rolled out in 15 regions of the country is setting out the new registration system aimed at building on existing health and local government systems for registration and certification as one step and unified process.
“We have three initiatives for registering the under-fives carried out in 15 regions, and another initiative for primary and secondary students between the age of five and 17,” he said, adding that the primary and secondary initiative set to be rolled out countrywide is currently implemented in Dar es Salaam Region, Manyoni, Simiyu, Tunduru and Musoma.
In November last year, the government said plans were underway to electronically register and issue birth certificates to over 15 million Tanzanians by the year 2025 through the Registration, Insolvency and Trusteeship Agency (RITA), the National Assembly was told yesterday.
Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs, Dr Augustine Mahiga, said that through the arrangement, the government seeks to issue birth certificates to 15,917,602 Tanzanians by the year 2025.
Through the electronic system, Dr Mahiga said RITA was expected to increase the number of registration for children under five years old and as well as reduce by 50 per cent the number of Tanzanians who do not have birth certificates to 21,508,277.
