Chiefs from various areas of the Maseru district will be sensitized on the importance of birth and death registration at a two-day workshop that will be held at Christ the King High School, Roma  on November 12 and 13. In an interview, a member of the sensitizing team Mr. Thabo Janki said the sensitization is aimed at creating awareness among chiefs regarding the importance of registration, which he said it helps with accurate population statistics.

Mr. Janki stated that accurate population statistics could help the government to make proper planning as the government would plan basing on the proper population statistics. He noted that the current population statistics of the country do not reflect the true situation of country's population, as most of the children are not registered after they were born, while on the other hand people who are dead are also not registered. He said some of the developmental activities are proposed based on the
population of people living within the particular area where the activity should be carried out, saying it is when people are registered that the proposed projects could be successful.

Mr. Janki further said it is the responsibility of chiefs to ensure that children and those that have died are registered. He pointed out that chiefs seem to have neglected their responsibility in this regard, adding that the expectation is that, after the workshop, chiefs would ensure that people are registered within their respective areas. He mentioned that the forthcoming workshop marks the completion of the campaign to sensitize chiefs and other leaders of the society regarding the importance of birth and death registration as the activity has already been held in other nine districts. The sensitizing team is composed of people from the Bureau of Statistics, Local government and UNICEF.

30 October,2002