Source: newsthemegh.com
Ghanaians would now have to spend GH¢644 instead of GH¢100 to obtain a passport, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration.
The sector minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, revealed this information to Graphic Online during an interview.
“Passports are only purchased by Ghanaians for approximately GH¢100. The cost of producing a passport booklet is GH¢400, meaning that the government must spend GH¢300 for each passport that is obtained, and this is not sustainable,” the speaker stated.
She clarified that the Passport Office was not receiving the necessary investments because of a shortage in passport booklet printing.
Before the GH¢1.127 million budget estimate for her ministry was approved, Ayorkor Botchwey spoke on the floor of Parliament and stated that the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation was currently debating the proposal.
“On the cost of passports, it is not sustainable, therefore, I will plead with this honourable house to look at the issue for us. It is already before the subsidiary legislation committee, and I’m hoping that Ghanaians will pay realistic prices for passports. At the moment, passports don’t serve as IDs, we have national ID cards. Therefore, those who need passports are those who need them to travel, and I don’t think that they would want us to continue to subsidize it.”
She stated that in order to speed up the passport application process, her organization is now acquiring a massive printer.
The proposed increase in passport prices was previously explained by Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, the deputy minister of foreign affairs and regional integration, who cited production costs and the country’s current affordability in comparison to other countries in the sub-region of West Africa.
He said that in order to finalize acceptable fees, talks with Parliament are still ongoing.
Ampratwum-Sarpong bemoaned that although other neighbors spent roughly forty dollars for the same service, Ghanaians were only paying eight dollars at the moment.
In order to improve security in compliance with ICAO guidelines, he said, planning are underway to implement chip-embedded passports in the second quarter of 2024.
“Liberia charges $50, we charge $8, meaning we have to subsidize every passport. So the money to buy the printers is used to subsidize the passports… And also, we are thinking of upgrading our passport from biometric to chip-embedded. So the chip-embedded version is going to cost more. If we continue charging at $8, we will continue to face the problems that we are having at the passport office… So we have to raise the fees,” he said