The facility has been closed to the public due to an electrical fault that has affected the offices’ printers.

[contextly_sidebar id=”YfCdlHO4QVXLSYoSd0U27mBlNxwJxDfy”]Citizens who visited the office to transact business on Tuesday were turned away by policemen manning the gates at the premises due to the situation.

Although officials are treating the situation as an urgent one and working to ensure regular work resumes, that will not be until Friday.

The Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Habib Tijani, told Citi News that the wiring and fire systems at the office are currently being fixed.

“When we got an impression of what happened, an inspection was done and quickly we are working on it. Hopefully, by Friday, everything will be restored because currently, we are working on the wiring at the same time we are working on the fire system. We have the Ghana National Fire Service who are working on the fire system.”

‘Corruption at the passports office’

A survey conducted by the Ghana Integrity initiative anti-corruption Consortium in 2017,  identified the passports office as one of the few government agencies where bribery and corruption is pervasive.

The survey, which was to assess citizen’s understanding of corruption, their perceptions and actual experiences of corruption, show that Ghanaians still perceived the passports office as well as the police service, political parties and the judiciary as being corrupt.

It however revealed that Ghanaians do not regard the payment of what is commonly called facilitation fee as a form of corruption.

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.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Ridge Passports office closed down due to electrical fault appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He was at the office to assess at first-hand operations at one of Ghana’s busiest agencies.

Dr. Bawumia took the time to interact with some applicants at the office to learn about their challenges and promised that government would work to address all their concerns. He also interacted with staff at the office.

[contextly_sidebar id=”L5iveCxzQ2IMg7qJOCaSGJzbKUWt6GdF”]Passport acquisition in Ghana in spite of various interventions is still cumbersome, with applicants waiting for months before acquiring passports after submitting their applications.

The Vice President also interacted with the Deputy Director of Passport, Accra regional office, Samuel Ofosu Boateng.

Dr. Bawumiah noted the challenges regarding passport acquisition in the country, and indicated the need for the manual processing system to be abolished, and an online system adopted to speed up processing of passports.

“I’ve listened to the views here and it is very clear that we have to move from the manual processing to the online processing of passports. And we also have to make sure that every region has the capability to do the online processing so that we abandon the manual processing, move to online and we can then have much quicker delivery of passports across the region.”

“People are suffering too much just to get a passport, but the good news is that, the foreign minister is very much on top of this issue, the directors here are very much thinking about the changes we want to bring on board. Some of these changes are already beginning.”

The Vice President added that, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and the passports office, had been given the responsibility to ensure that passport processing is decentralized.

“We only have one processing centre in Ghana, but if we are able to do so across all the 10 regions, we believe that people will have their passports much quicker, and I think this is what we are going to hold them responsible for, and also provide the resources that are needed to allow the extension of these services across the country. I think people should not suffer this much just to get a passport. We’ll have to change that.”

The Vice President has in the last few months paid surprise visits to some state departments and agencies including the Registrar General’s Department, Public Procurement Authority, and the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority.

–
By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Bawumia pays surprise visit to Passports Office appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

There have been several complaints about the difficulties in processing a passport which has recently led to the introduction of an online processing portal.

[contextly_sidebar id=”O37DFoU2s9qHehy3Ot8Aow7lDcXlVffo”]But speaking to Citi news, the Anyaa-Sowutuom Member of Parliament said she will work towards ensuring that the institution runs effectively.

“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 than needs to be done and we are going to do our best,” she said.

The Director of the Passports office, Alexander Ntrakwa recently complained about massive bribery and corruption that bedevils the office.

Many applicants in their desperation to acquire passports in the country, illegally pay huge sums of money to unauthorized facilitators, popularly known as ‘Goro Boys’, to by-pass the tedious bureaucratic processes in acquiring the national identification document. But applicants have also accused passport officials of deliberately making the process cumbersome, a situation that compels applicants to pay bribes.

Mr. Alexander Ntrakwa, who assumed office as the Director in August 2014, said he was once threatened by a ‘goro boy’ who said his only means of survival that takes care of his family was that business.

“[Goro boys phenomenon] has been so over the years and they don’t see any reason why somebody will come and rock the boat. When I came here, some of them were so confident to come and tell me that this is the business that they have done to take care of their children through University education so why have I come to destabilize them. That is why we have the hue and cry about the passports office.”

Most Ghanaians seeking to acquire passports especially in the capital, Accra, queue at the passport office at dawn and spend long hours before being attended to. It sometimes take more than two months before applicants receive their passports.

‘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.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

The post Passport acquisition in Ghana will be easy – Ayorkor Botchwey appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.