Passport Office Issues 45,000 Passports In Three Months

Ghana's Passport Office has in the last three months issued 45,000 passports applicants.

A statement from the passport office said out of this number, 12,785 have been delivered through the Ghana Immigration Service for distribution to applicants in the regions and districts of the country, while the rest have been collected by protocol officers and officials from institutions of state that submitted applications directly to the passport office under certificates of emergency.

The institutions are the ministries, departments, agencies, organizations, corporations, churches and the various traditional councils. The statement further said that the backlog of applications have been cleared, except for applications that might have been queried and resubmitted.

It noted that the bulk of current applications yet to be processed are for the months of April and May this year, which are receiving due attention and would be issued shortly.

The passport office has assured Ghanaians that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is taking immediate and appropriate measures to resolve the problems associated with passport processing in the country. The announcement of the issuance of passports follows promises made by Ghana's Foreign Minister, Hackman Owusu Agyemang that the delay in issuing passports is over.

Previously, applicants who applied for Ghanaian passports had to wait for months before they are issued with one. Some immigration officials took advantage of the situation and charged as much as 700, 000 cedis($100) for the issuance of one passport which is supposed to cost 50,000 cedis ($7).