About 70,000 uncollected passports will be distributed through a newly introduced courier system, Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has announced.
The initiative seeks to address the backlog and ensure that applicants receive their passports without unnecessary delays. Speaking in an interview with TV3, Mr. Ablakwa revealed that a comprehensive audit would be conducted to verify applicants’ details before dispatching the documents.
“We will roll out a courier system so that applicants can receive their passports wherever they are. There must be a clear indication of who the applicants are, and if addresses are available, we will call them,” he stated.
Beyond the courier service, the minister emphasized the need for digital transformation and operational improvements at the passport office. According to him, such reforms will not only expedite passport processing but also enhance efficiency in service delivery.
Addressing concerns about the issuance of diplomatic passports, Mr. Ablakwa criticized the current system, stressing that these special documents should be strictly reserved for government officials and foreign service personnel.
To prevent abuse and maintain Ghana’s international credibility, he announced plans for a thorough review of the diplomatic passport issuance process.
This reform, he noted, would introduce stricter regulations, enhance transparency, and reinforce accountability in the management of the country’s passport system.
Senior Presidential Advisor Yaw Osafo-Maafo has raised concerns over the large number of uncollected passports at various passport offices across Ghana.
As of now, approximately 86,000 passports remain unclaimed, causing significant inefficiencies and financial burdens on the government.
During a press briefing on June 19, 2024, Mr. Osafo-Maafo highlighted the specific numbers, stating that in Takoradi alone, 8,000 printed passports have yet to be picked up by applicants. Cape Coast faces a similar situation, with 8,696 uncollected passports. In Accra, the number is even higher, with 19,500 passports waiting to be claimed.
“Because we subsidize the production of these passports, we are printing them for people at $4 when we should be printing them at $100. This subsidy locks up the capital of the government, making the subsidy a significant problem,” Mr. Osafo-Maafo explained.
In a bid to improve the efficiency and delivery of passports, the Office of the Senior Presidential Advisor, in collaboration with the Public Sector Reform Secretariat and the World Bank, presented modern IT equipment worth $1.3 million to the passport office in Accra in 2023. This initiative is part of a broader project that targets thirteen public sector institutions, including the Passport Office, to enhance service delivery.
At the equipment presentation ceremony, Mr. Osafo-Maafo emphasized the importance of this intervention in boosting the efficiency of passport issuance. He expressed optimism that the new IT infrastructure would significantly improve the processing and management of passport applications.
Mr. Osafo-Maafo urged passport applicants to collect their documents promptly to ensure the sustainability of the subsidized passport production program.
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.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that passports are now considered secondary to other forms of national ID.
Addressing journalists, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, recommended that Ghanaians unable to afford a passport should abstain from applying for it, emphasizing that passports are no longer the primary means of identification.
She underscored the efficacy of the national identification system as the principal form of identification.
Madam Botchwey remarked, “Today, as we speak, we have the National Identification that is working very well, so that’s our primary source of identification. No longer the passport.
“And even those who have the national ID can travel into the country with it. So, then, I’m humbly asking Ghanaians that, please, if you do not need a passport and because you cannot afford it, please, humbly, I’m asking you not to go for a passport because it’s no longer your primary source of identification,” she added.
“If the government is subsidising heavily, it’s difficult to provide any good services to Ghanaians,” she said.
She added, “Even individuals possessing the national ID can utilize it for travel within the country. Hence, I respectfully urge Ghanaians who do not require a passport due to financial constraints to refrain from obtaining one.”
Expressing apprehension regarding the government’s subsidy of passport applications, she cautioned that maintaining such subsidies could compromise service quality for citizens. “Heavy government subsidies make it challenging to deliver quality services,” she stated.
Madam Botchwey assured collaboration with Parliament in the event of a review of passport fees, stressing that fee adjustments aim not to burden citizens financially.
The Ministry recently announced fee increments for passport services, effective April 1, 2024, in alignment with the 2023 Fees and Charges regulations, L.I. 2481.
Under the new fee structure, the processing fee for an expedited 48-page passport is GH¢800, while a 32-page application costs GH¢700.
She noted: “Fees come from the Parliament of Ghana. We make a presentation to them; we give them the bare facts of what it is. Parliament is aware of this, and these charges came from Parliament. If Parliament decides, we should go back. We will have to look at it. It is Parliament that has decided, and we will go by it.”
A Ghanaian woman identified as Yaa Tabby, has recounted a troubling experience at the Ghanaian Consulate General (Ghana Embassy) in New York.
Tabby, who is said to have been a participant in the US edition of #OccupyJubileeHouse protest in October 2023, described feeling deliberately overlooked and made to wait for an extended period, despite arriving before others who were served promptly.
In a series of tweets detailing her visit on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, Tabby explained that she had gone to the embassy to collect her brother-in-law’s visa, which had not been mailed to them as expected.
However, she found herself waiting while others received preferential treatment from staff and a man in dreadlocks who was not employed but was distributing passports.
Tabby expressed frustration when an unauthorized individual repeatedly entered and exited a ‘Staff Only’ room to retrieve passports for other visitors, exacerbating her sense of unfair treatment.
“Upon arriving, I wrote down his name and number and was asked to take a seat, which I did. A lady came out and started calling out names for the visas. Three gentlemen were there to pick up other people (one for his daughter and the other two for a group). She called out the names and asked who she was missing, so I politely told her my brother-in-law’s name again. She asked if I had written his name down, and I said yes. She told me to wait for the next batch of names, and I obliged.
“As I sat down again to wait for my turn, a young lady came in and asked if they had mentioned her mum’s name because she had missed it, and she was asked to wait for the next round of names like I was told to. Five minutes later, a guy with dreadlocks came in and spoke… to the young lady waiting (they seemed to know each other well). This guy proceeded to go into the office that read STAFF ONLY (DO NOT ENTER UNLESS AUTHORIZED), so I assumed he worked there when he entered. No wahala! He came out and spoke to the same young lady again and went back in the second time. This time, he returned with a passport in his hands and handed it to the girl, and she said, “Oh, thank you, anka mɛtena ha akyɛ.” Sis got up and left. A guy who also came to meet me was…” she tweeted.
Yaa Tabby revealed that she confronted the man with dreadlocks upon realizing he was not authorized to distribute passports. Despite some officials’ attempts to calm her down, she returned to her seat and waited to be called.
When her turn finally came, Tabby was shocked by the request made at the counter, finding it so amusing that she burst into laughter.
“I calmly sat down and waited to be called, and finally, the short, chubby lady (the one that calls out names) called me to the window. I got up and walked there, thinking I was just picking it up like THE REST OF THE PEOPLE DID. Still, no, this lady looked me in the eye and said, and I quote, “I need an authorization letter from the person you are picking it up for and let him send it to ghanaconsulate@aol.com” I just started laughing out loud because, ma’am, please make it make sense!
“Several people walked in here and picked up passports and visas on behalf of other people, but you didn’t even ask for an ID! I went out and called my brother-in-law, and he wrote the letter and sent it to the email. 2 minutes later, I walked up there and told the other gentleman that the letter was sent, so if they can check and verify it, I can get out, please. That was when this short, dark lady (according to my investigation, she’s called Mimi) came to the window and said I should go and print out the letter because they don’t have printers in the Embassy. She said ‘watɔ printer wɔha sɛ yɛmfa printi papers ɛmma wo, sɛ wokaasɛ wo nkoara na wonim mmara.’
“That was when I lost it, so because I spoke up about something bad that I have witnessed, you are trying to frustrate me. The ladies at the back were speaking Ga and laughing, and I know damn well they were talking shit about me, so me too. I gave it to them! She even told me it wouldn’t go anywhere when I said I would file a complaint,” she added.
In her tweets, she tagged the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and demanded a response to the unprofessional behavior of its officials.
Ghana is set to transition to an e-passport, which features a chip embedded in the passport, in line with international standards.
According to Alhaji Mohammed Habib Idris, the Director of Passport, this move will align Ghana with approximately 150 other countries that already utilize e-passports.
Alhaji Idris, who will soon assume the position of Ambassador-designate of Ghana to the State of Kuwait, confirmed that the migration to e-passports is expected to be completed and launched by the last quarter of this year. He also mentioned that work on the new system will commence prior to his assuming the new role.
The introduction of e-passports will enhance the security and efficiency of passport issuance and travel documentation processes in Ghana, bringing the country in line with global trends and technological advancements in passport technology.
Alhaji Idris further explained that the “nation’s decision to switch from the current biometric system to the chip-embedded passport is also to comply with standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) member countries”.
Alhaji Mohammed Habib Idris (right), Director of Passport, sharing a point with Daily Graphic’s Zakaria Alhassan
“It is also to enhance the security and integrity of the nation’s passport,” he added.
The e-passport project, which is under the auspices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, is being implemented through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
On the timely issuance of passports, the Director said there had been some improvement over the years and as a result, people no longer trooped to Accra to access their passports following the establishment of centres across the country.
The centres were set up upon assumption of office of the current government in 2017, and at the moment there are 13 passport centres in the country where applicants can access their passports.
“All what you have to do is to apply through an online portal we have introduced to allow us facilitate the process for you to have your passport.
“We have come a long way in the processing and delivering of passports; evolving from the issuance of high return passports to machine readable passport and now doing biometric passport.
All these are aimed at improving the integrity and security of our passport,” Alhaji Idris added.
He further explained that the online application portal was established to address delays in the system.
He, however, acknowledged that his outfit still experienced challenges sometimes following temporary breakdowns of the system due to the fact that over 100 passports were processed a day.
Except in emergency and peculiar cases, Alhaji Idris said the standard time for processing a passport is between 15 and 21 days, but “due to technical problems we are sometimes not able to meet this deadline.”
A group that provided phoney passports to criminals so they could evade the law has been sentenced to prison.
The scheme’s architect, Anthony Beard, paid gullible individuals for their expiring passports so he could apply for renewals using their information but criminals’ photographs, including murders and drug dealers.
The so-called “golden ticket” of fraudulently acquired real (FOG) passports, which allowed the criminals to flee and begin a new life overseas, cost up to £20,000.
Beard, 61, put his own burner phone numbers on official forms and countersigned some of them himself. He was responsible for more than 100 fraudulent applications.
Evidence of his offending dated back to 2007, but Beard, from Sydenham in south east London, was heard bragging that he had been running the scam for 20 years.
He would find people with similar facial features to his criminal clients and pay them for their expired passports, with other contacts pretending to be professionals to vouch that the photos were genuine.
In 2019 he started working with two other men: Christopher Zietek, a broker who represented a Glaswegian crime gang, and Zietek’s ‘trusted lieutenant’ and ‘dogsbody’ Alan Thompson.
In Thompson’s defence his lawyer, Craig Rush, said he had been forced to retire on medical grounds in 1999 so he became a gofer for Zietek ‘not for money but because it gave him something to do’.
Christopher Zietek was part of the gang (Picture: PA)Anthony Beard bought expired passports in order to fraudulently create new ones for criminals (Picture: PA)Alan Thompson was jailed on Tuesday (Picture: PA)
Once the passport scam was uncovered, the fake identities of around 50 fugitives were discovered and they were arrested.
Their trial focused on 12 passports that were obtained for customers including Glasgow murderers Jordan Owen and Christopher Hughes, Liverpool drug trafficker Michael Moogan, Manchester fugitive David Walley and suspected Scottish drug traffickers Barrie Gillespie, Jamie Stevenson and James White.
Beard also obtained fake passports for Stephen Lawrence murder suspect Jamie Acourt, Irish drug kingpin Christy Kinahan Snr and firearms trafficker Richard Burdett, although these were not part of the trial.
Beard admitted conspiracy to pervert the course of justice and conspiracy to make a false instrument with intent, and on Tuesday he was jailed for six years and eight months.
Zietek, 67, who had homes in Sydenham, Ireland and Spain, was jailed for eight years for conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, conspiracy to make a false instrument with intent and converting criminal property.
Thompson, 72 and from Sutton in Surrey, was sentenced to three years for the same offences. Both men were found guilty following a trial in March.
Anthony Beard was caught on camera inspecting a passport at a cafe in New Cross, south London, in 2019 (Picture: PA)One of the fraudulently-obtained genuine (FOG) passports, issued to Jordan Owens in the name of Lee Bowler (Picture: PA)A fake Latvian passport in the name of Aleksejs Rustanovs, issued to Christopher Hughes (Picture: PA)
Passing sentence on Tuesday, Deputy Circuit Judge Nicholas Ainley said of the scheme: ‘It was to enable very wicked, sophisticated, violent criminals to escape justice by providing them with documents that because they were genuine would deceive the authorities to enable them to escape.’
He said that Zietek was ‘clearly the organiser’, providing a link to serious criminals, while Beard was ‘the leg man’ and Thompson had a lesser role.
Craig Turner from the National Crime Agency (NCA) added: ‘This was the golden ticket for the organised crime networks in order that they could evade arrest, evade identification by local law enforcement either internationally or at home in the UK.’
The NCA now plans to make an application to recover proceeds of crime from the gang.
