The refurbished central passport office building is commissioned

General news for Saturday, November 14, 2020

Source: GNA

2020-11-14

The Foreign Ministry on Friday commissioned the remodeling of the Central Passport Office building at Ridge in Accra.

The ultra-modern building was commissioned by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Ms Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, in her welcoming address, said that the new Central Passport Office was a purpose-built three-level building, with ancillary facilities such as a meeting room, a cafeteria for staff and a well-structured Archives / Records Room, among others.

It is expected to provide the most conducive and conducive environment for both staff and customers.

The Foreign Minister described the occasion as a historic moment in passport administration in Ghana, saying the achievement was the culmination of positive interventions and reforms undertaken by the government to significantly transform the operations of the passport office.

He said that the Ministry had successfully implemented the online passport application system, thus eliminating the manual scheme, which until now was the norm, and said that the interventions had eliminated all difficulties associated with acquiring passports, in particular the response time for the delivery of passports. document fraud and intermediaries, popularly known as “goro boys”.

Ms. Ayorkor Botchwey said that the Ministry was also in the process of renovating all existing regional Passport Application Centers (PACs) to renovate them and improve service delivery.

Passport acquisition, he said, had been made even easier and brought to Ghana’s doorstep, following the establishment of Passport Application Centers in Kumasi, Tamale, Koforidua, Tema, Ho, Takoradi and Sunyani, as well as Premium PACS in Accra and Kumasi, to provide fast services.

The Foreign Minister announced that the Passport Office would soon order new PACs in Cape Coast and Wa, as well as a new Premium Center in Tamale in the coming days.

He said that to make it easier for Ghanaians in the Diaspora to obtain passports, the Ministry had extended biometric passport services to Ghanaian Diplomatic Missions abroad, and that a total of twenty-two Missions could currently issue biometric passports.

The Foreign Minister stated that the remaining missions were expected to begin issuing biometric passports by the second quarter of 2021.

Therefore, he called for the cooperation and support of all stakeholders to protect the sanctity of Ghanaian passports, saying that it was a civic responsibility to protect the passport application process and not hand it over to unscrupulous individuals to undermine its integrity.

Ms Ayorkor Botchwey admonished the facility management to properly preserve and maintain the beautiful office in which so many resources had been invested, and also commended the consultants and contractors who worked hard to ensure the successful completion of the project.