Foreign Affairs Ministry to introduce 48-hour service at passport centers

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has revealed that her ministry is working to introduce a 48-hour express service for passport acquisition in the country.

According to her, this is an attempt to gradually eliminate the operations of middle-men who are popularly known as ‘Goro boys’.

She made this known while addressing the media after the opening of two new passport offices in Tema and Koforidua.

“We will continue to improve upon service delivery to the Ghanaian public. Moving into the future, the Ministry intends to introduce a forty-eight-hour service for those who need very urgent services,” she said.

This service, when rolled out will be one of the many measures put in place to ensure that Ghanaians who want to acquire their passports in a shorter period can do so.

In November 2018, the Ministry announced the availability and application for passport forms online which eased the pressures at the various passport centers in the country, particularly in Accra.

Later that year, the ministry commissioned a new Premium Passport Application Center, located at the Accra Digital Center which currently enables applicants go through the registration process within 30 minutes at an additional charge of GH¢50.

The minister has, however, expressed optimism that the new measure will not only ease the pressure on the various passport offices but also reduce the operations of swindle men and ‘Goro boys’.

“We believe that this will completely eliminate the use of middle-men in the acquisition of passports,” Madam Ayorkor Botchwey added.