The Tribune

DEPUTY Prime Minister and Minister of Works and Urban Development Philip Davis officially launched the government’s online birth registration initiative in Marsh Harbour, Abaco, on April 13 in the Bahamas Government Complex.

Shantera Mackey, the mother of Carmelle Larissa Mackey, was presented with the first printed online birth certificate during a brief ceremony.

Mr Davis, who headed a small delegation including Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs Senator Allyson Maynard-Gibson to that island, described the mobile initiative as a “milestone achievement.”

Mrs Maynard-Gibson said the Registrar General’s Department is proud to be able to empower Bahamians in this very “significant” way. “We have been travelling throughout the entire Bahamas not only to make certified copies available - we reinstated this in 2012 - of all documents, but also now to enable persons to get live birth certificates, ultimately death and marriage certificates as well, in real-time,” she said.

“Gone are the days where persons have to travel to New Providence to get from the database or to put into the database something that can happen right here in real-time in their own community,” she added.

Online birth registration has also been launched in Cat Island, Eleuthera, Andros, the Berry Islands and San Salvador and is expected to come on stream in other Family Islands.