Rush for Biometric Passport indicates successful implementation - Minister

Accra, April 28, GNA - The rush for biometric passport application indicates implementation would be successful, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration said in Accra on Wednesday.

He pointed out that issuance of the biometric passport had became necessary to conform to International Civil Aviation (ICAO) Mandatory Standards and Recommended Practices.

It states that "contracting states shall begin issuing only machine readable passports in accordance with specifications not later than April 1, 2010" Inaugurating the Accra Passport Application Centre, Alhaji Mumuni sa= id the provision however, did not intend to preclude issuance of non-machine=

readable passports or temporary travel documents of limited liability in cases of emergency.

He allayed the anxiety of holders of manually written passports with=

the assurance that non-machine readable passports were still valid for international travels in line with ICAO Mandatory Standards and Recommend= ed Practices until November, 2015.

Ghana has been subjected to fraud attacks including photo substituti= on, he said, and that there was the need for a superior technology to accurat= ely authenticate an applicant's identity. Five application centres would also be established at Koforidua, Sunyani, Sekondi-Takoradi, Tamale, and Ho by June this year, to decongest=

the Accra centre. Alhaji Mumuni said in the spirit of regional integration and to assu= re the international community that war refugees in Ghana with dubious characters could not access Ghanaian passports; applicants for biometric passports should be present at the centres with all the necessary particulars for processing. These include birth certificates, and taking of photographs and fin= ger prints. Alhaji Mumuni warned that services of middlemen were not needed to process biometric passports and cautioned Ghanaians to beware of middleme= n when applying for them. It would take an applicant three days after submission at a cost of=

GH¢50.00 to acquire the passport while an emergency passport would attr= act an additional GH¢50.00. Alhaji Mumuni expressed the hope that with the clarification, fears= of the travelling public would be allayed and appealed to all and sundry to exercise patience and not rush to change their manually written or non-machine readable passports immediately when they had not expired.