The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has announced an upward fee adjustment for passports.
In a social media post on the ministry’s official page on the microblogging platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, the ministry made it public that in accordance with the Fees and Charges (Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations, 2023 (L.I 2481), there will be an adjustment in the fees and charges for all services provided by the ministry.
The ministry added that the new adjustment would take immediate effect from Monday, April 1, 2024. Although the tweet did not state categorically the new prices for passports, an earlier interview by Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional made it known.
In a December 2023 interview, Ayorkor Botchwey mentioned that her ministry seeks to increase the current passport fees from GH¢100 to GH¢644.
According to her, Ghanaians currently pay just GH¢100 for a passport which she says does not cover the cost of production.
Madam Ayorkor Botchwey explained that to produce one passport booklet costs the state GH¢400, which means that for every passport that an applicant acquires, the government has to put in GH¢300, and this according to her is not sustainable.
She further explained that the deficit in printing passport booklets was preventing the necessary investments in the Passport Office.
“On the cost of passports, it is not sustainable, therefore, I will plead with this honourable house to look at the issue for us. It is already before the subsidiary legislation committee, and I’m hoping that Ghanaians will pay realistic prices for passports. At the moment, passports don’t serve as IDs, we have national ID cards. Therefore, those who need passports need them to travel, and I don’t think that they would want us to continue to subsidize it,” she reiterated.
Credit: ghanaweb.com