The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional has urged passport applicants to always use the official passport application portal, passport.mfa.gov.gh to acquire their passports and desist from engaging unauthorized persons in the passport application process.
It noted that payment for the approved fees for passport processing is made electronically and not in cash on the ghana.gov.gh platform based on the following: GHC100.00 for a 32-page booklet and GHC150.00 for a 48-page booklet.
In a press statement on Thursday, the Ministry stated that there were complaints by some passport applicants about extortion and mistreatment meted out to them at some Passport Application Centres (PACs).
It said, “In an effort to deal with the situation, the Ministry is urging applicants who suffer any mistreatment or extortion to report such incidents to the following email address and mobile numbers with the names of the officers and the PACs for redress: Email: ipab@mfa.gov.gh. Mobile numbers: 024-091-3284, 024-079-3072, 020-455-2056, 020-455-2750, 026-804-9031 and 026-979-4871.”
As part of the measures to be implemented, it indicated that all officers would be made to wear name tags.
“The public is hereby advised not to engage any person who is unable to identify themselves with the issued name tags, as they most likely are middlemen, usually referred to as “Goro boys”,” it added.
The Ministry noted that officers who have already served more than a year at the PACs would be replaced with immediate effect and the Ministry’s policy of the yearly rotation at the PACs would be enforced to the latter.
In a related development, the Ministry has assured the general public that it is working round the clock to clear the backlog of passport applications and also sanitize the passport application process.
“The Ministry is inviting only applicants who have emergency cases to contact the Ministry’s Client Service Unit via the following email address and numbers with their contact details and transaction IDs for assistance: Email: ipab@mfa.gov.gh. Mobile numbers: 024-091-3284, 024-079-3072, 020-455-1723, 020-455-1748, 020-455-1958,026-681-0218 and 026-514-0875,” it noted.
The Ministry further assured the general public that it remains committed to delivering an enhanced passport delivery service.
Patience Anaadem, ISD
