The proposal, which is currently being considered by the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation, is to enable the ministry to curb losses in the printing of passport booklets.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, who made this known in Parliament on Thursday, said “It is time for Ghanaians to pay realistic prices for passports they acquire to travel beginning next year.
She said it is due to financial constraint prevailing in the economy, it had come to a point where it was no longer “sustainable” for the state to continue to subsidise passports.
“Ghanaians pay just about GH¢100 for a passport yet to produce one passport booklet it costs GH¢400 which means that for every passport that an applicant acquires, the government has to put in GH¢300 and this is not sustainable,” she said.
The minister stated this ahead of the approval of the GH¢1.127 million budget estimates for her ministry.
Other countries’ charges
She stressed that the deficit in the printing of passport booklets was preventing the necessary investments in the Passport Office.
“Passports are no longer sources of identification as we all have our national ID. Therefore, anybody who needs a passport and actually applies and acquires a passport does so because they have intention to travel.
“So, if you are going to travel or you intend to travel and you cannot pay GH¢400 then it is unfortunate because even tickets are now expensive,” she said.
The minister also appealed to Ghanaians who were not in a hurry to travel to, “please do not go for passports”.
Dwelling on providing responsive services to applicants, Ms Botchwey said Ghanaians had complained about services and environment provided by the ministry at passport applications centres.
To address such challenge, she said the ministry has provided applicants with options for consular services, passport, visas or attestations.
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