Passport boss: Let’s wipe out ‘goro boys’

The Director of Passports, Alexander Grant Ntrakwah, has called on well-meaning Ghanaians to join hands to rid the Passport Office and other state agencies of middlemen, more commonly known as ‘goro’ boys.

Goro boys operate around some state institutions, notably the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and the Passport Office, where they agree a fee with passport and driver’s licence applicants, to circumnavigate the humdrum bureaucracy they are confronted with in their quest to secure such national documents.

Mr Ntrakwah said despite several efforts in the past to arrest such intermediaries and put an end to their activities at the premises of the Passport Office, fresh faces kept showing up, making it a nigh impossible task, which he said would require a concerted effort to eliminate.

Regarding the efforts of the passport issuance office to deal with middlemen, Mr Ntrakwah told Chief Jerry Forson on Accra100.5FM’s morning show, Ghana Yensom, that: “We arrest a number of them every day, but it appears it’s a big syndicate operating just like we see in other service providing agencies in Ghana. Once you arrest one, a fresh person emerges. Some seem to have an air of decency about them, but they are all wolves in sheep clothing.”

He, thus, urged support to eradicate the problem posed by the goro boys, who have lately christened themselves as ‘facilitators’

“So, it’s a task personnel of the Passport Office, alone, cannot tackle. It should be the collective responsibility of us all as a nation to deal with. If anyone approaches a passport applicant demanding money for the processing of their passports, he should alert authorities for their arrest. Because the Director cannot see what is happening outside there, we always act on information we receive from the complainant and retrieve the money from the culprit before taking him to the police station."

Asked if he was aware of allegations that some staff of the Passport Office collaborate with goro boys to charge desperate applicants money to secure them passports, the director answered in the affirmative, but said that often such complainants hold back information when they are asked to mention the names of officers involved in such deals.

“So, how do we assure that the goro boy is collaborating with a particular officer, whereas we have not been furnished with information? If we get such information on any officer, we would ruthlessly deal with him, so that person does not dent the image of the office,” he said.