The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has provided a detailed update on the government’s plan to establish passport offices in the Western North Region and five other regions, as part of efforts to improve passport services across the country.

He made this announcement during a parliamentary session on Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in response to a question from the Member of Parliament for the Suaman Dadieso Constituency, Frederick Addy, regarding the timeline for setting up passport offices in the six remaining regions, particularly the Western North Region.

The minister reiterated that, in line with the government’s goal to decentralize passport services and ensure equitable access, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will establish passport application centers in the six regions currently without them. These are the Savannah Region, Bono East Region, Ahafo Region, Oti Region, Western North Region, and North East Region.

“As part of our efforts to decentralize passport delivery and ensure equitable access to passport services, the ministry plans to establish passport application centers in the six newly created regions that currently lack such facilities,” he noted.

He disclosed that the ministry has adopted a phased approach, starting with the establishment of temporary passport offices in these regions due to funding constraints that currently hinder the construction of permanent structures.

“We have adopted this strategy because we do not have the funding at the moment for permanent structures. What we are doing is implementing the first phase by establishing temporary offices. We are collaborating with the Regional Coordinating Councils to make this happen, including one in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, which currently does not have a passport application center,” he highlighted.

He assured Parliament that the ministry intends to transition to permanent structures once funding is approved in the 2026 budget. However, he committed to establishing functional passport application centers in all 16 regions by the end of this year.

“In the 2026 budget, we hope to receive favorable approval from the Ministry of Finance to enable us to move into permanent structures and establish dedicated stand-alone passport application centers. But for now, I can make a commitment that, by the end of this year, passport application centers will be operational in all 16 regions through our partnership with the regional administrations.”

He added that the Upper East Region, where an earlier attempt to establish a center was halted, will also benefit from this renewed effort.

“We are determined to ensure that the people of the Upper East Region and all these newly created regions no longer suffer or face frustration due to long travel distances in search of passport services,” he asserted.

AM/KA

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