The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has urged Ghanaians to desist from taking the newly-introduced chip-embedded passports to men of God for anointing in the hope of securing visas.

Speaking at the launch on Monday, April 28, 2025, he expressed worry over the growing trend, warning that such practices could compromise the integrity of the passports.

"I was really alarmed and outraged when I saw on some channels people sending their passports for anointing oil so that men of God can pray over them. The belief is that this will automatically guarantee a visa. Please, we beg you, with this new chip-embedded passport, you and your men of God, please leave the passports out," he advised.

He further explained that applying oil or tampering with the biometric pages could damage the chip and render the passport invalid.

"They can anoint other parts of your body, but please leave out the passports. It will compromise the security features, and it won't work," he added.

Ghana has introduced chip-embedded passports in compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) requirements.

The new passports are equipped with the highest latent and patent security inputs, and holders are assured of robust security features that are almost impossible to forge.

The roll out is a public private partnership between the government and BTS Group.

The old biometric passports remain valid until 2030; however, holders can switch to the chip-embedded passport any time before 2030 whether their passport has expired or not.

JKB/AE

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