The annual Henley Passport Index released on Jan. 9 showed an overall decline in the strength of African passports compared to other continents. The strongest African passport belongs to the Seychelles, with Mauritius and South Africa ranked second and third, remaining unchanged from the previous year.

In the 13 years that Henley & Partners have tracked the world’s passports (using data from the International Air Transport Association and its own research as a residence and citizenship consultancy), African countries have suffered the biggest decline as a bloc, accounting for 19 of the 27 biggest fallers in the past decade.

Seychelles and Mauritius were the only two countries to improve their standing over the decade. Seychelles climbed 17 places, and Mauritius 16 places. The islands’ improvement is largely due to being the only African countries who have a visa-waiver agreement with the Schengen area, according to Henley.

The Seychellois passport’s strength may also be attributed to the island nation’s own openness as a visa-free country, with no requirements for any traveller wishing to visit. Similarly, Mauritius does not require a visa from a majority of the world’s travelers, and only requires 16 countries’ citizens to apply for a visa before travel.

The Seychelles, Mauritius and South Africa retain their top spots on other passport indexes too. Passport Index, which ranks visa free scores and passport power in real-time, has the same top four African countries, but ranks Lesotho and Swaziland in fifth and sixth place ahead of Malawi and then Namibia.

The rankings indicate just how hard it still is for African travellers. Apart from the bottom ranked countries, most Africans can travel to fewer than 100 countries without a visa. For example, Nigerians may only travel to 46 countries without a visa, while Moroccans are slightly better off at 61 countries. Nigeria is the biggest faller over the last decade, losing 22 spots, followed by Sierra Leone and Libya, which dropped 20 and 18 places respectively.

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According to the Ministry, the cost of production is much higher, and that if they continuously sell at the current price, they will be running at a loss.

[contextly_sidebar id=”UE6K1SQudcVeuFCciylIyS17GvR3CzAz”]The cost of regular passport application form will increase from GH¢50 to GH¢100 if the proposal is accepted and approved by parliament.

It is however unclear if the price of express passport application forms, which already sells for Ghc100, will also be increased.

The Ministry argues 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.

In its report to parliament regarding the approval of GH¢450 million as 2018 budgetary allocation, the Ministry said the Attorney General has been notified about the proposal to be considered as part of the review of the Fees and Charges Legislation.

“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.

The Ministry added that, “while the proposed review when approved would provide the needed revenue to meet the cost of production of the Passports, the Committee was mindful of affordability of the service to the public, and entreated the Ministry to take this into account in estimating the cost of the service.”

Passport acquisition in Ghana

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has given indications that it intends to make the process of passport acquisition in Ghana easy and efficient, a departure from what can best be described as one of the most frustrating processes to go through in the country.

Despite promises by successive governments to improve the process, many Ghanaians are forced to pay bribes, pay exorbitant charges through middlemen popularly known as ‘gorro boys’ or queue as early as 3:00am each day to have their passport applications processed especially at the Accra application center.

The forms for regular application currently goes for GHS 50, and are expected to be processed within 4 weeks, whilst the forms for express applications are being sold for GHS 100, and are expected to be processed within 2 weeks, although the duration may slightly vary.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Joseph Boamah was arrested at the passport section of the former Ministry of Foreign Affairs office for allegedly possessing 13 Ghanaian passports, 19 passport forms, five birth certificates and a rubber stamp.

He was charged with three counts of forgery of official documents, possession of official documents and forgery of stamps.

Boamah was granted bail in the sum of GH¢5,000 with two sureties who are either public or civil servants and earn GH¢3,000 or more as salaries.

The case was adjourned to June 6, 2017.

In his caution statement, Boamah admitted forging some of the information on the forms while some were filled by the applicants.

He also admitted producing the rubber stamp which he used in endorsing the forms for applicants.

Prosecuting, Sergeant Maxwell Ayim said the complainant, G/Cpl Prince Asiedu, is a policeman with the National SWAT Unit and attached to the Tema Lorry Station branch of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Passport Office.

He said G/Cpl Asiedu was on night duty on April 4, 2017 to monitor the activities of “Goroboys.”

At about 3 a.m. the next day, April 5, 2017, some applicants came to the office to wait to go through the application processes.

An applicant informed G/Cpl Asiedu about Boamah who was then illegally giving out queue numbers to some applicants.

According to the prosecutor, the complainant immediately approached  Boamah who was holding a brown bag.

When Boamah was asked to open the bag, the documents and rubber stamp were found in it.

Sergent Ayim said Boamah claimed ownership of the items and he was arrested and handed over to the Police.

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Source: Graphic Online

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Currently, there are only six centres across the country, a situation that causes delays, also because the regional offices are not empowered to print the passports for prospective applicants.

The situation has caused many applicants grave frustrations, leading to exploitation by some swindlers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”UMYtLldLh2eOI5zJt5t4lQVBxfDHWoGQ”]But the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charles Owiredu, has told Citi News government will expand the centers to ten, to resolve this challenge.

He also indicated that, government will improve on the online application process.

“One of the key things that has bedeviled the Ministry is in the area of passport. People are complaining that anytime they need a passport and they go to the passport application centres there are delays. Now we have six centres where people can apply for passports and the plan is to extend it to all the regional capitals so instead of the six we will have ten.”

“Also we have the online application. We also want to expand the online application to all centres so people can sit in the comfort of their homes and apply for their passports. We want to make sure that every mission is capable of issuing passports.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, had earlier reiterated government’s resolve to ensure that the processes leading to passport acquisition in the country are made easier.

Speaking during her vetting as Minister Nominee, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey said : “We’ll be ensuring that processes that Ghanaians go through that has something to do with the foreign ministry will be smooth processes such as the acquisition of passports and visas and all of that, there is a lot of work there that needs to be done and we are going to do our best.”

‘Ghana launches online passport application’

Ghana in December 2016 launched an online passport application service, aimed at easing the mode of application of passports for Ghanaians, while ensuring maximum security for applicants.

The introduction of the system was also to prevent the activities of ‘goro boys’ in the passport application process that often results in defrauding of innocent Ghanaians.

Ms Hanna S. Tetteh, the then Foreign Affairs Minister, said the service was inherent in the e-Government strategy. However, the online application process is not effective.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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It comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania – as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa.

The vote by the parliament’s civil liberties committee means Americans will have to apply for extra documents for the next 12 months.

The European Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action.

Australia, Brunei, Japan and Canada were also failing in their obligations, but all four have lifted, or are soon to lift, any visa restrictions on travel for EU citizens.

Following the committee’s vote, the Commission must act to suspend the visa waiver for Americans, but the European Parliament or the Council of the European Union may object.

In December, MEPs pressed for the move in order to “encourage” Washington to play its part, according to a statement by the parliament.

But Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos warned of “consequences”, including potential “retaliation” and a drop in visitor numbers precipitating substantial losses for the continent’s tourism industry.

Just days ago the Council said it would liberalise the visa regime for citizens of Georgia travelling into the EU.

Georgians can now, subject to final approval of the regulation, stay in any EU country for 90 days in any period of 180 days without needing a visa.

Carmelo Abela, Malta’s minister for national security, said: “This agreement will bring the people of Georgia and the EU closer together and will strengthen tourism and business ties. It follows the completion of the necessary reforms by Georgia, addressing document security, border management, migration and asylum.”

Last month it was reported that the EU was considering the adoption of a US-style electronic travel permit scheme – a move that could create a new administrative hurdle for British tourists after Brexit.

Immigration minister Robert Goodwill told Parliament the EU was discussing the possibility of introducing a version of America’s Electronic System for Travel Authorisation (ESTA).

Currently foreign travellers must pay a fee of $14 (£11) when they complete ESTA, an automated online system that determines their eligibility to travel to the US.

“British people are now used to the US ESTA scheme and, therefore, we view with interest how the European scheme might develop and what similarities, and differences, there may be to the US scheme,” Mr Goodwill said.

“This type of scheme is generally there to help enhance security. To get to know as much as possible about the people who are intending to travel.

“It isn’t just flights, it could be people using ferries, or other border crossings into the European Union.”

Alan Brown, an SNP member of the European Scrutiny Committee, pointed out that Leave advocates in the referendum campaign had said there would be no need for visa-like travel schemes after Brexit.

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Source: Independent

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