PASSPORT TO BE ACQUIRED ONLINE

Hannah Tetteh, Ghana's Foreign Minister

By Martin Thompson Ntem

Queuing for long hours at the passport office would soon be a thing of the past as the acquisition of passport would be done online by the close of the year.

The online process would come with SMS alerts as well as a means of checking the status of one’s application.

According to the Director of Passports Mr Alexander Grant Ntrakwa, six people have already successfully acquired their passports through the online platform as part of the trial process.

Speaking at a press conference to address concerns raised by the public about the difficulty in acquiring passports and to inform the public about new developments, Mr. Ntrakwa said plans are underway to select a suitable bank to implement the new system.

He stated that passport acquisition does not end in itself but is a national database that can affect a person in future hence the need for applicants to provide the right information about themselves.

Emphasing the need for people to renew their passports so as to update their information through the purchasing of a new form he explained that “a renewal demand the purchasing of a form because as from the time one has gotten the passport a lot might have change .”

According to the press statement, there are two types of applications, the Regular passport application which is to be processed within a minimum of twenty-one working days and the Express application, to be gotten within minimum of nine working days.

According to Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Lesley Christian, inadequate documentation, multiple application under different names, security concerns, human errors and the present of middle men commonly known as ‘goro’ boys are the main challenges faced by the passport office.

As part of on-going efforts to address the challenges, the chief Director urged prospective applicants to provide relevant and verifiable information to facilitate the processing of their applications as well as do away with middle men now known as facilitators.

Ambassador Lesley advised prospective applicants in the regions to seek the services of their Regional Passport application Centres and desists from rushing to the passport office located at Ridge in Accra.

EDITORIAL

Let the law work

The on-going debate over allegations of judicial corruption needs to be settled on the basis of law rather than the whims of individuals pretending to be angels on earth.

Our strong view is that if evidence can be adduced to prove the commission of any crime, then the criminals should be dealt with as prescribed by the law without regard to their political affiliation.

The insight also believes that the very process of arriving at official and formal conclusions in this matter must be governed by law.

Lawlessness is itself a form of corruption and therefore we fail to see how corruption of any kind can be fought with another form it.

Those who are screaming that what happened to others in the past must happen to the judges miss an essential point.

If what happened to others in the past was unlawful then it should not happen now or in the future to anybody.

By all legitimate and legal means let’s fight corruption but we should not reduce the effort to survival antics in the jungle.

Please let the law work!