The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will by the end of this year, begin online application for passports.
This was revealed at a press conference in Accra on Thursday by the Director of Passports, Alexander Grant Ntrakwa.
Many have described the process of acquiring passports as a nightmare while some have called on the Passport Office to make it less cumbersome.
Many Ghanaians have also complained about the unnecessary bureaucratic processes and alleged corruption at the office, making the acquisition and renewal of passports very difficult.Mr. Ntrakwa however believes these challenges will be minimised if the new programme is successfully executed.
He explained that applicants will be given specific dates to visit the office for the other processes to be carried out, after they electronically submit their forms.
“The good news is that plans are far advanced for the passport office to deploy online. The pilot project was done with NITA as far back as 17 December, 2014. On that day we managed to get six applicants to apply online and within three days they got their passport.”
He pointed out that the only challenge the office had with the new programme is the payment platform, but was quick to add that it is currently holding discussions to tackle that problem.
“My Chief Director is chairing a committee that is having discussions with some of the banks that we want to deploy on the platform. As soon as we get the greenline, we have a timeline for ourselves and before the year ends, passport office will be online and it will make it easier for everybody to apply. You go online, you apply and you are given your appointment date, you go to the centre and you are captured and you go.”
