Skip to main content

Gov’t extends validity of passport booklets to 10 years

The government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has extended the validity period of the country’s ordinary passport booklets from five years to 10 years.
This comes after complaints by some Ghanaians that the five-year validity period was too short.
An online petition collecting signatures to get the government to increase the validity had received more than 10,000 endorsements over the past few months.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry in a memo all of the country’s foreign missions said “Missions are hereby informed that government has decided to extend the validity of ordinary passport booklets issued to qualified Ghanaian applicants from five years to ten years (5-10 years) with effect from 31st March 2019. The processing fees remain the same until further notice.”
In the past, Ghanaian passport  booklets were valid for (10) years until it was changed to 5 years in a bid to conform to recommended standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Ghanaian citizens who called for the extension in the years of validity back to ten years in their arguments indicated that the change in the period will take away the stress and extra resources, and the hurdles “one needs to go through in passport acquisition and renewal while at the same time reducing the congestion at our various Passport Acquisition Centers and Embassies across the globe.”
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs, made the proposal on the same matter through the Director of Passports, Alexander Ntrakwa, when he appeared before them in March 2017.
Ranking Member of the Committee Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa at the time argued that the five year expiry period was too short a time, especially given the challenges that applicants go through in getting a new passport or to renew an old one.
While suggesting that the five year validity period would ordinarily rake in more funds to the ministry, he said the situation does not inure to the benefit of the passport holders.
The Foreign Affairs Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey after an unannounced visit to the Passport Offices in Accra promised to ensure the introduction of new measures to address the challenges with passport acquisition and renewal in the country including the elimination of Goro boys and the long queues at acquisition centres.
Among other things, she said she would work to ensure decentralization in passport processing by establishing new regional passport offices.
Meanwhile, the cost of processing passports in Ghana remains GHc 50 and GHc100 for regular and express services respectively.

SOURCE:https://citinewsroom.com

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

You are killing us with your one round sex – Queen mother to men

Many women are aging in the Central region due to lack of sexual satisfaction, Paramount Queenmother of Mankessim Traditional, Nana Ama Amissah has said. According to her, men in the region are killing the women with their one round of sex-a situation she described as worrying. In an interview on Adom News Thursday, the Mankessim queenmother revealed that, many marriages are collapsing due to the men’s inability to satisfy their wives in bed. “Most of these women are committing adultery just to satisfy their sexual pleasures” she added. The development, Nana Ama Amissah who is also the President of the Central Regional Queen Mothers Association is causing a lot of problems. She however cited prostate cancer is a major contributory factor for the low sex drive in the men. Nana Ama Amissah therefore charged the men to do regular checkup to ensure they are free from the disease. SOURCE: http://www.adomonline.com

I dreamt Amissah-Arthur’s death – Abronye DC

A former member of ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) has revealed he dreamt about the death of former vice president, Kwesi Amissah-Arthur. According to Kwame Baffoe popularly known as Abronye, around 3:am Friday dawn, he had a premonition that something wrong will happened to the former Veep. The former Brong Ahafo Regional Youth Organizer disclosed this on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen programme Friday’s hours after the death of Mr. Amissah-Arthur. The immediate past Reports indicate Mr Amissah Arthur collapsed at the Airforce Gym on Friday morning during a workout session and was rushed to the 37 Military Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Controversial prophet, Isaac Owusu Bempah has been attacked for claiming he saw the impending death of Amissah-Arthur. He claimed he prophesied about the death but the late vice president did not take concrete steps to avert it. But members of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) have launched blistering at...

Respect ban on corporal punishment – GES warns teachers

The Ghana Education Service [GES], has warned that teachers in both private and public schools who inflict Corporal punishment on students would be appropriately dealt with per the guidelines of the service. In a statement signed by the Director-General of Ghana Education Service, Jacob A. M. Kor,  he said “it has come to their notice that the ban on corporal punishment is not being enforced in schools.” “We wish to indicate that Corporal punishment in our institutions is illegal and would not be tolerated in any form” The Service explained that “The directive is in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the right of the child (CRC), which was corrected in Ghana in 1990, and the Children’s Act of 1998 m(Act 560). “We strongly advise that teachers, Educational Workers and staff of Public and Private would continue to exhibit the best professional conduct throughout the entire process of educational service delivery to pupils and students, without having to ...