News:
April 4, 2024
The Majority caucus of Ghana’s parliament has defended the upward review of fees for passport acquisition from one hundred Ghana cedis (GHS100) to five hundred Ghana cedis (GHS500) as reasonable.
Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Andy Appiah Kubi on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, addressing members of the Parliamentary Press Corps said government was subsidizing the fee for passport acquisition by GHS300.00 hence passport applicants were paying only GHc 100.00 prior to the recent passport fee review.
According to him passport was a main document for people to prove their Ghanaian citizenship, however, the Ghana Card is now an important alternative means for proving one’s citizenship hence the decision by government to withdraw the subsidy on passport which is used by only 20 percent of Ghanaians to travel.
He further pointed out that increment in the fees for passport acquisition will help government to open more passport application centers across the country to reduce the inconvenience in the acquisition of passport.
Again, within the West African sub-region Ghana’s passport is the cheapest and the whole House both the Majority and Minority encouraged the Ministry to increase the passport fees, the subsidiary legislation agreed to this co -chaired by the Minority.
“So for anybody to step out to say they oppose the upward review is neither here nor there and those doing that are not part of the Committee. It is not the work of the Foreign Affairs committee which I chair and Okudzeto Ablakwa is the ranking; it never came up at the committee meeting that there was protestation to the upward review”, he stated.
Kwaku Sakyi-Danso/Ghanamps.com