'Machine-Readable' Passports In October?

Accra, Aug.12, - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will as from 1 October begin issuing passports in which particulars of applicants will be printed out by computer. The ''machine-readable'' passports will replace the current ones in which the particulars of applicants are hand written. Mr Jacob Coomson, Director of Passports, told a press conference in Accra today that the new passports will be valid alongside those currently in use which were issued from April 1995. Holders of passports currently in use which are tenable for 10 years do not have to change them since they are still valid documents. Applicants will be issued with new ones only after the expiry of the 10 years. The only passports that will have to be changed are those issued before April 1995 which are no longer valid. Mr Coomson said the introduction of the new passport is in conformity with international standards and will make it difficult to be forged. ''The machine-readable passport will facilitate the processing of travellers' documents at their various destinations..the system is fast and has an in-built code for detecting fraud and other irregularities.'' Mr Coomson said as part of security measures, only passport pictures of the dimension 35 millimetres by 45 millimetres taken over a single colour background will be accepted with applications. He advised the public to adhere to the new measures announced by the Ministry last week to channel their applications through District Immigration Offices. This is part of efforts to ''demystify'' the acquisition of passports and make the process easier and faster, Mr Coomson said.