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There is uneasy calm at the Births and Deaths Registry Department of the Akyem Oda District Assembly in the Eastern region over what has been described as �illegal extortion of money� from unsuspecting residents, Today can report. Information gathered by Today from the district and its surrounding communities indicates that residents including chiefs are bracing themselves up against the Registry which is accused of charging people GHC70.00 for birth certificate instead of GHC50.00. According to this paper�s information, the GHC70.00 is charged for the issuance of a birth certificate with the explanation that the GHC20.00 increment is to take care of transportation from Akyem Oda to the Eastern regional headquarters of Births and Deaths Registry Department in Koforidua. Today�s findings at the Births and Deaths Registry Department in Koforidua revealed that an applicant was supposed to pay GHC50.00 for a birth certificate and not GHC70.00. And that attested to the fact that the department which operates under the ministry of local government and rural development was being used to milk dry unsuspecting Ghanaians. The criminal act, sources close to the Registry indicated, had compelled residents, particularly victims, to rise against the Registry. According to the residents, the decision by the Registry to charge an extra GH�20.00 for a birth certificate was an act of �insensitivity and wickedness.� A tertiary student in the district who also suffered the same fate from the Registry on August 27, 2014 told Today via telephone on condition of anonymity that the Registry asked him to pay GHC70.00 after his birth certificate had been issued to him. And that payment, according to the student, was made at the Akyem Oda District Assembly Births and Deaths Registry Department after he had been taken through the registration process. What was very disheartening, according to the victim (student,) was that the Registry failed to give him a receipt even after he had demanded for one. He noted that development made him suspect foul play at the Akyem Oda Births and Deaths Registry, thereby compelling him to make an enquiry from the Assembly on how much it will cost an individual to procure a birth certificate. �I was told it was GHC50.00 and that I quickly confronted the Registry on why I was made to pay GHC70.00.� The answer of the Registry was that the additional GHC20.00 would be used as transportation fare to travel from Akyem Oda to Koforidua to put finishing touches on the certificate before it is finally released to applicants.�