Passport Acquisition In Ghana

Passport is the universally recognized document needed by all wishing to travel to and from nations especially using the sea and airports. The acquisition of this document in Ghana since independence has been cumbersome. Unfortunately succeeding governments were unable to deal with the challenges adequately. The reason for this is well known. Despite the rapid increase in Ghana’s population from six million at independence to 29 million today, we have only one passport processing office in Accra to serve all the huge number of passport applicants daily. No wonder, all those who want to acquire the document from all corners of the country from north, south, east and west had to travel to Accra. A visit to the National Passport Offices in Accra reveals long queues of people young and old, women, children and the physically challenged attempting to acquire passports. The intervention of past and present governments to make passport acquisition easy through online application and processing is a step in the right direction. However, since the final processing would have to be effected in Accra and many applicants are unable to use the online portal, the problem is far from over as the passport office is forced to use manual form side by side the electronic processing system. It is heartwarming that the current government has begun moves to find solution to the problem of passport acquisition. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway recently made an unannounced visit to the Passport Office in Accra to see things for herself. She seemed unhappy with what she saw especially when she spoke to disgruntled passport applicants who have been waiting for months for their passports.

There is therefore the need for some reforms to make the system effective. Government needs to properly decentralise the processing of passport by establishing new regional and district passport offices. It is refreshing to hear the Foreign Minister announcing plans to ensure that Passports once issued are made to expire in 10 years instead of 5 years, adding that the 500 passport booklets which is produced daily will be increased to take care of the volume of applications before the passport office. Out of the thousands of people who form queues from 3am only about 100 are served a day. It is hoped this will be addressed if measures are put in place. Much as the moves by the Minister are commendable, her Ministry has to consider employing more people to work around the clock in Accra and the regions to deliver quality and timely service to Ghanaians. It is equally essential for Internet services to be enhanced across the country to facilitate the online application process. The so called ‘goro boys’ or ‘passport contractors’ running around extorting money from prospective passport applicants with the connivance of some officials must be flushed out. The issue of foreigners claiming to be Ghanaians applying daily for Ghanaian passports illegally must be seriously addressed.

The brief visit of the Foreign Minister to the office has proved that the bottlenecks associated with the passport acquisition can be dealt with. Most passport applicants who witnessed the magical intervention of the Minister got to know that passports could be issued with dispatch within hours and few days especially with the help of monitoring teams. Ironically it was discovered that 60,000 completed passports have been abandoned in the passport office by some applicants. It is not surprising that those unclaimed passports might have been abandoned because the applicants were fed up of waiting for months only to apply for another passport in the same passport office. While commending the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the good moves, her Ministry must intensify monitoring and evaluation mechanism and trigger corrective measures and reforms to enhance the processing of the document. This is the only way the ministry can deal with the problems and speed-up passport acquisition in the country. Ghanaians deserve better service from the Passport office and the needed measures must be implemented to ensure timely issuance of passports.

BY: ALHAJI ALHASAN ABDULAI - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR EANFOWORLD FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC INTEREST AND ACCOUNTABILITY COMMITTEE, PIAC.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Need For Ghanaians To Support The 2021 Budget

Showing compassion to the less privileged

One Year Of Coronavirus In Ghana