Government wants Ghanaians to pay double for passport forms

Ordinary Ghanaians are expected to pay a 100 percent increment for passport forms in 2018.

The proposal is for the increment of the passport application fees from GHS 50 to GHS 100 in a bid to address the delays associated with acquiring passports in the country.

Presenting its report on the 2018 budget estimates of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee recommended a review of the amount charged for ordinary passport processing.

According to the committee, the proposed review will provide the needed revenue to meet the cost of production of passports.

The Ministry further explained that the cost of processing and issuance of passports has increased since August 2009, but the cost of the application forms had remained the same over the period.

“The Committee was informed that the Ministry had sent proposals to the Ministry of Finance to increase the Passport application fees from GHS 50 to GHS 100.00 for ordinary passport processing. The fees, which form part of the IGF of the Ministry, is used to defray part of the processing cost, cost of re-tooling and for establishment of passport application centers in all regional capitals in order to ease the acquisition process. The inputs have been forwarded to the Attorney General as part of the review of Fees and Charges Legislation. The committee noted that, since August 2009, passport application fees have not been reviewed, although the cost of processing and issuing of the document has increased,” the report stated.

Meanwhile, some Members of Parliament have supported the call as they backed the Foreign Affairs Ministry to implement the new fees.

Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu was in agreement for the increment when the issue came up for discussion in parliament on Friday, December 15.

"We support the revision from GHS50 to GHS100. Mr Speaker, they pay more to the 'goro boys' to do passport but when it is legitimate and official we don't want to pay," he said.