2,000 unclaimed passports - Immigration Service Director

The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) on Thursday appealed to passport applicants to contact its regional offices for over 2,000 Unclaimed passports nation-wide.

Nana Owusu Nsiah, GIS Director, who announced this at his maiden interaction with media practitioners in Accra, said hindrances to the acquisition of passports have contributed to some applicants giving up.

The meeting was to enable the new GIS boss to outline his vision for the service and streamline its operations to conform to international immigration standards.

He said the focus of his administration would be the adoption of a systematic approach to immigration and related functions in order to maximise efficiency.

Nana Nsiah, who is a Deputy Commissioner of Police, said his administration has introduced changes in the management structure and the overall operations of the service.

To facilitate the process of passport applications, he said, more reception points have been opened at the Greater Accra office where the bulk of applications is received.

He explained that the restructuring would also involve modernisation of the system, including computerisation to facilitate and strengthen control to improve the quality of service to the public.

Nana Nsiah said the new administration would introduce a more flexible, but effective system of control to meet the government's strategic objective of achieving the golden age of business.

The GIS Director also stated that in view of developments in international security following the September 11 terrorist activities in New York and Washington, the service has discussed with Western missions the need for effective collaboration.

He said GIS is seeking technical assistance in skills building, particularly for its personnel at the entry points, intelligence gathering as well as equipping its training schools to improve on their performance.