Devon Dick
LAST MONTH, former Member of Parliament, Deacon Ronnie Thwaites, declared that while he was an M.P. he proposed to Parliament that it becomes law that all birth certificates would bear the father's name but he got no support.
Ronnie made this dramatic statement at a symposium at the United Theological College of the West Indies hosted by the lecturer of the Women, Religion and Liberation class, Dr. Hyacinth Booth. The occasion was a discussion on women in the post-John Paul II era with panellists, Canadian editor of an independent Roman Catholic newspaper, Mrs. Rosemary Ganley, and Professor
Dorcas White, of the Norman Manley Law School.
With the passage of time, Ronnie's memory might be failing him and hopefully he has forgotten those who supported his call for the father's name to be on a child's birth certificate. But there might be some truth in his statement because apart from the Honourable Portia Simpson Miller agitating for the father's
name to be on the birth certificate in one of her campaign speeches, none of the other PNP presidential candidates has mentioned that. Neither did PNP president PJ Patterson nor JLP leader Bruce Golding mention that in their closing addresses to their respective conferences.
RIGHT TO A NAME
According to the United Nations Charter of Rights, every child has a right to a name and, I believe, to know the name of its father and have it on the birth certificate. Fathers in Jamaica must step up to the plate and accept our responsibilities in having our names on the birth certificate, provide the basic necessities of life, protect the children and pass on positive values, skills and attitudes.
According to the Bible, Joseph found his espoused wife, Mary, pregnant and not being the father he thought of putting her away privately. However, after the angel appeared to him he played the role of father valiantly. As we remember the birth of Jesus, Joseph should be the model father for Jamaican men.
The September 2005 figures state that of all birth certificates, 62 per cent do not bear the child's father's name. This affects children. There are children who yearn to know their fathers. Absentee fathers is a big factor in the lives of children who turn to crime.
I know of a young lady who just wants her father to acknowledge that he is her father. Yet this prominent Jamaican, whose utterances are spiritual, ignores her. I know a minister of religion who will not openly acknowledge a child that he has with another woman while he was married. And at the funeral of a prominent Jamaican, two persons who were giving glowing tributes, spoke of different numbers of children for the deceased.
ABUSE
Children are treated shabbily in this country and the recent PIOJ report has identified yet another way they are abused. Children of women who are imprisoned have a hard time. Visiting rights are denied these children. They are stigmatised for their parents' deeds.
But, it is time that every child in Jamaica has its father's name on the birth certificate. There are professional women who are also guilty as they have not named a father. The woman should name someone. A man can appeal within a time frame. But it is better for a man to get a 'jacket' than for a child to grow up without a father. The law in Jamaica, in an effort to protect the child, states that the husband must accept responsibility for the child his wife bears while they are married even if he is not the biological father. That concept must inform visiting and casual sexual relationships that produce children. If the married man has to accept responsibility for such a child, why not the single man? As the saying goes, "If you neva go a fowl nest, fowl couldn't pick you".
The next sitting of Parliament should have the children being treated better as it should pass a law requiring that all children have their fathers' names on their birth certificates.
Merry Christmas, and be a father figure to a child.
Rev Devon Dick is pastor of Boulevard Baptist Church and author of Rebellion to Riot: the Church in Nation Building.
