The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration is seeking a 564% increment in passport application fees.
This means Ghanaians will pay GH¢644 to secure a passport instead of GH¢100.
Sector minister Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey disclosed this in Parliament as she sought approval for the increment.
“Ghanaians pay just about GH¢100 for a passport. To produce one passport booklet, it costs GH¢400, which means that for every passport an applicant acquires, the government has to put in GH¢300, which is not sustainable,” she said.
She explained that the deficit in printing passport booklets was preventing the necessary investments in the Passport Office.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament before the approval of a GH¢1.127 million budget estimate for her ministry, Ms Ayorkor Botchwey noted that the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation is currently considering the proposal.
“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 are those who need them to travel, and I don’t think that they would want us to continue to subsidize it.”
On the backlog of passports, she said her outfit is securing a giant printer to expedite the process.
The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, had earlier justified the proposed increment in prices of passports, citing production costs and the current affordability compared to other countries in West Africa’s sub-region.
He indicated that there were ongoing discussions with Parliament to finalize approved fees.
Ampratwum-Sarpong lamented that Ghanaians were paying 8 dollars compared to other neighbours who paid about 40 dollars for the same service.
He added that there are plans to introduce chip-embedded passports in the second quarter of 2024 to enhance security in line with ICAO standards.
“Liberia charges $50, we charge $8, meaning we have to subsidize every passport. So the money to buy the printers is used to subsidize the passports… And also, we are thinking of upgrading our passport from biometric to chip-embedded. So, the chip-embedded version is going to cost more. If we continue charging at $8, we will continue to face the problems that we are having at the passport office… So we have to raise the fees,” he said.