Ghana’s Buck Press hailed in Liberia over e-Passports

President Sirleaf receiving a copy of the new passport

One of Ghana’s leading security printing companies, Buck Press, has been highly praised in Liberia for successfully producing the country’s e-Passport.

Outgoing president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf outdoored the E-passport after becoming the maiden recipient of the product.

President Johnson-Sirleaf launched the e-biometric travel document alongside the opening of an Expedited Application Service Centre at the Bureau of Passports and Visas of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Giving a background of the e-Passport, the Deputy Minister of Legal Affairs Deweh E. Gray informed President Johnson-Sirleaf the negotiations with Buck Press Limited, the Ghanaian company was inter-agency collaboration including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Justice, Liberian Revenue Authority, Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, National Security Agency and others.

Officials of Buck Press said by this feat the Ghanaian side has proven that it can handle every modern security printing projects with no challenge.

The new e-Passport is characterized by advanced technology which will no longer have a 3D barcode but rather a RFID microprocessor chip implanted into the book without the ability of detecting it physically with the eyes or touch of the hand. The e-passport will hold all 10 fingerprints in addition to the facial image of the holder on the RFID.

An elated President Johnson-Sirleaf had remarked just before the launch of the standardized e-Passport that “I remember the days when I was denied a passport by my country, but because I was working in the United States and had a resident permit at the time I was issued a refugee travel document which I used for international travels.”

One of the priorities of the Liberian Foreign Ministry is a commitment to handle passports requests in Accra and Abuja.

With the launch of the travel document Liberia has become the latest country to become an upgraded member of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

The Liberian authorities are said to have expressed delight that Buck Press delivered on time as required of them at the time the contract was signed for the production of the e-travel document