The death of a person signifies that he is no longer alive, which is legally proven following the issuance of a death certificate. On the other hand, a death certificate can only be issued on the strength of a doctor's attestation or a declaratory judgment. The death certificate extinguishes the person's status, showing he is no longer alive.
Article 78 (NEW) of the Law is to the effect that deaths must be declared to the civil status registrar of the place of its occurrence, burial, residence or both of the deceased within 90 days by the family head, a relative of the deceased or any other person having known for sure that the person so described is dead. In case of death in a medical institution or prison, the head of the institution must make a declaration within 90 days following the death.PROCEDURE TO OBTAIN A DEATH CERTIFICATE IN CAMEROON;
What is the content of a death certificate? A death certificate shall contain the following:
1) The name of the primary or secondary civil status centre, failing which, the main centre to which it is attached.
1) The name, surname, date, and place of birth, sex, marital status, profession, and residence of the deceased.
2) Date and place of birth.
3) Name and surname of the father and mother of the deceased.
4) The name, surname, profession and residence, relationship, and domicile of the declarant.
5) Name, surname, profession, and residence of witnesses,
6) The date the certificate was drawn up.
Where the body of the deceased person is found and cannot be identified, a death certificate shall be drawn up by the civil status registrar of the place where the body was found on the declaration of the judicial police officer. If the deceased cannot be identified, the death certificate shall give the entire description possible and refer to the investigation carried out by the police
A death certificate also puts to an end person’s criminal responsibilities and their right to vote. Unfortunately, there are many dead persons whose rights and benefits are still flowing, not as deceased, but as though they were alive simply because their death certificates never got to the suitable quarters. A good example is the “antelope exercise” in the public service some years ago, where many ghost workers were uncovered. Amongst these groups were persons who had died years ago, but because of the absence of death certificates in their files, they were continuously paid their salaries as though they were alive. In other words, only the production of a death certificate can legally extinguish his right to a wage.
Another note is that a death certificate should only be issued to the right persons. The civil status registrar and the courts should always investigate who wants a death certificate to be established for a dead person. In some cases, people have forged death certificates for their selfish aims.
There is the case of MR. XXXX, who resides in TOMBEL, South West Region, whose salary was automatically stopped because somebody had established a death certificate that indicated that he was deceased. The same was included in all legal files to hurt him.
It is our sincere desire, therefore, that in issuing out these certificates, the civil status registrar and the courts alike should be very diligent, and facts should be appropriately investigated by the civil status office.
It should be known that every act of theirs has far-reaching effects, and the legal implications are numerous. And the government should establish an electronic or computerized recording and filing of all these three (deaths, marriage, and birth) documents, which any agency could easily verify.
It will reduce or eradicate any falsification of these documents and ease the verification of copies presented to any agency by comparing them with the original in a government-established registry.
Article by CHUO ANGABUA JUNIOR
‘’The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. We insist specialist advice be sought depending on your specific circumstance’’
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