Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration Ministry has commissioned the Ghana Passport Premium Application Center in Tamale. The center located on the second floor of the pension Tower of SSNIT is expected to reduce the difficulties prospective applicants sometimes go through to acquire passport.
The new premium passport application center is 3rd premium in the country after president Akufo Addo commissioned the head office located at Gamel Abdul Nasser Avenue near the British Embassy High Commission on 13th of this month in Accra.
The objective is to leverage digital world order of technology to augment the ministry’s obligation of issuance of passports to the good people of our dear country.
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and regional integration, Alhaji Habib Tijani who commissioned the center on behalf of the Minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey reiterated the government commitment to ensuring that citizens acquire their passport with ease.
The premium center Alhaji Habi said was part of the process to expand the digital space and to continue to innovate in a fast changing and dynamic world as well as to address the challenges, the ministry has adopted and operationalised government’s digitization policy by automating the process of acquiring passports through the online passport application system.
The online passport application system the deputy minister explained is an appointment-based system for the attainment of the three-pronged objectives of convenience, accessibility and reliability in the processing and acquisition of passports.
Alhaji Habib Tijani who is the member of parliament for Yendi advised staff to exhibit high sense of professionalism and decorum in the discharge of their duties.
The ministry he said envisaged that the establishment of this Premium Passport Application Centre in Tamale would create business opportunities in the supply chain where indigenes, residents and well-meaning Ghanaians can take advantage and set up their own small businesses.
He reminded the people that the Passport office is a multi-agency institution which works with other relevant agencies such as the Birth and Death registry, Controller and Accountant General’s Department, Ghana Immigration Service Ghana Police service among other security services, all of which have representatives stationed in this PAC.
The ministry he assured will continue to work with these agencies to effectively execute its mandate of issuing passports to Ghanaians and implore all staff working at the centre to exhibit the highest levels of professionalism and decorum in the exercise of their duty.
Director of Bridge Direct, a private partner of the center Mr Kofi Karikari Appau said the center will drastically reduce the number of hours applicants spend in acquiring a passport. Applicants he said Will spend maximum 45 minutes in processing their passports.
