Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, has lamented the high number of uncollected passports at the various passport offices across the country.
According to him, a total of about 86,000 passports are yet to be collected by the respective applicants.
He noted that 8,000 passports are yet to be claimed in Takoradi after being printed. A total of 8,696 passports are yet to be claimed by applicants in Cape Coast. In Accra, 19,500 passports have not been claimed despite being printed.
“Because we subsidise the production of these passports, we are printing them for people at $4 when we should be printing them at $100 dollars. So the subsidy of these passports is locking up the capital of government. So the government’s subsidy in these passports is a big problem,” he told the press on Wednesday, June 19, 2024.
To enhance the delivery of passports, the Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, in 2023, presented modern IT equipment worth US$1.3 million to the passport office in Accra.
The office noted that the move forms part of ongoing project implementation under the Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor and the Public Sector Reform Secretariat in collaboration with the World Bank.
The project covers thirteen (13) selected thirteen (13) public sector institutions, including the Passport Office as one of the service delivery agencies.
Speaking at a short ceremony to present the items, Yaw Osafo-Maafo noted that the intervention will enhance efficiency in the issuance of passports.
Mr. Osafo-Maafo urged passport applicants to collect their documents promptly to ensure the sustainability of the subsidized passport production program.