Getting a Ghanaian passport : Nothing has changed

SEVERAL MONTHS after Hon Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Minister of Foreign Affairs, had openly declared at a meet-the-press series that his ministry has streamlined operations at the passport office and that the process of acquiring a passport would take four weeks to be completed, the declaration has not yielded any fruitful results.

Daily Guide?s independent investigations at the Greater Accra Regional Immigration Office at the ministries where receipts of applications and collection of passports are done, revealed that many people who have applied, have not received their passports, even though the four-week processing period had long elapsed.

Some had their applications submitted in April, May and June, but up till now, they have not received their passports.

Passport fee is still ?50,000 subject to review, but passport officers, posing as ?contractors? collect as much as between ?300,000 and ?500,000, for express issuance of passports.

Immigration Officers at the Ministries are passing the buck of delay in the issuance of passports to the passport office which is under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but when contacted, the public relations officer (PRO) at the Immigration Headquarters,

Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI) Aliise Tarcisius, explained that sometimes the delay might be due to genuine working constraints and limitations associated with the processing of the passports.

He pointed out that his outfit is tasked with the responsibility of receiving all applications, checking their authenticity before forwarding them to the passport office for the processing of passport itself.

?We have liaison officers attached to the passport office to facilitate the delivery process? Mr Tarcisius claimed, adding that sometimes the liaison officers assist in linking people who have genuine problems to the client?s office of the passport office.

He stressed that as soon as the processed passports are forwarded to the immigration office the names of those whose passports have been processed are displayed on a notice board at the regional immigration office at the ministries.

?An applicant is given one month to check on the information he or she has furnished, to ascertain whether it has been cross-checked, and if there are no queries, then it signifies that a particular passport is being processed?, he stated.

Mr Tarcisius said the provision of passport should not be exclusive, since by law, every Ghanaian is entitled to own a passport ?whether one is travelling or not, as it is a document of identification in terms of nationality?.

Mr Tarcisius, however, remarked that the perceived delays associated with processing of passports could be greatly minimised if all the responsibility of issuing passports are entrusted into the hands of the Immigration Services for smooth operation and delivery.

When Mr Paul Aryene, director of Passports was finally reached after thwarted attempts to get his comment on the delays associated with processing of passports, he charged at Daily Guide for not doing its investigations well. He said if Daily Guide had done its investigations well, it would have found out that advanced countries like USA, Britain and Germany also face similar problems of delays associated with issuance of passports. He told Daily Guide that Ghanaians are overly insatiable and that they are quick to criticise and point out faults.

According to Mr Aryene, when the Minister announced that passports would now be processed in four weeks, he also provided a hotline for those who may encounter genuine problems in the acquisition of passports to call for ready assistance.

?The Minister had made it clear that there is a hotline to the ministry for any applicant who is having difficulties in acquisition of passport and through that avenue we have been able to assist a whole lot of applicants who channelled their grievances to us through the ministry?s hotline No 684711?, the director contended.

He mentioned that in addition to channelling grievances to the ministry through the hotline or the legal office, the passport office, has a client office that attends to applicants on Tuesdays and Thursdays who may have similar problems.

He made it known that the workload is unprecedented at the moment and that the office is doing all it could to eliminate or minimise the delays associated with the processing of passports.

He disclosed that his offices process 18,000 passports a month.

He entreated applicants who may have problems to come to the clients office at the passport office to make their problems known to the office.

Meanwhile, reports reaching Daily Guide indicate that Ghana?s Foreign Mission in Germany and other European countries have been issuing Ghanaian passports to non-Ghanaians who pay exorbitant kick-backs for Ghanaian passport to be given to them because of the prestige attached to Ghanaian identity abroad.

Many genuine Ghanaians who want to acquire passports, would still have to grapple with the inconvenience of waiting for five to six months before being issued with passports.

Before the Minister took office, the passport office was fraught with all sorts of malpractices and administrative lapses, giving rise to a huge despicable passport racketeering in the corridors of the passport office.

Even though certain administrative problems might have changed concerning the operations of middlemen or passport contractors at the premises of the passport office, the declaration by the Minister, is turning out to be a political talk.