The member of Parliament for Mampong constituency, who also doubles as the deputy minister of foreign Affairs, Kwaku Ampratwum – Sarpong, says, there was a need for an increment in the Passport Application processing fee.
According to him, the government was incurring losses, which would have affected the acquisition of passports.
The ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration on Monday, April, 1, 2024, adjusted Passports fees from 100 Ghana cedis, to 500 Ghana cedis for a 32 page booklet, and from 150 Ghana cedis, to 644 Ghana cedis for the 48 page booklet under the standard service.
This directive by the ministry has sparked controversies and outcry amongst the public.
Responding to this in an interview on Wontumi TV, on 4th April, 2024, he explained government’s efforts to improve passport service delivery, highlighting the importance of the increment to the Ministry and the nation as a whole.
“We are aware of the high increment but there was the need for us to do it. The ministry and the government were incurring several losses. There is no single country in this world who will subsidise the cost as we did.
They all charge the real cost of the passport.
Which business man would go to market, purchase a product at 400 Ghana cedis, and returns to sell it at 100 Ghana cedis? No one would do this” he said.
He also stated that, Ghana has the lowest price of passport in West Africa.
“Liberia charges 40 dollars, Burkina Faso, 80 dollars, Ivory Coast, 123 dollars, Gambia, 50 dollars, Sierra Leone, 100 dollars, Togo, 50 dollars, Mali, 91 dollars, Nigeria, 54 dollars, and Ghana charges 7 dollars, which is very very low.
Previous governments failed to take this tough decision, not even the NDC. The time has come. Ghanaians deserve better and our motive is to protect the passport office and ameliorate service delivery ” he added.
He further implored Ghanaians not to politicise this decision.
