The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has opened an untra-modern passport application center in Koforidua in the Eastern Region and Tema.
The center would be strictly for online application and individuals who have their documents processed would receive an appointment before coming for their biometric details.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey before commissioning said the application center would spare the people of the region the inconvenience of traveling to Greater Accra and Volta Region for passport services.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony in the Eastern Region, she said the Passport Office continued to be saddled with uncollected passports.
She stated that “about 20,000 printed passports spanning the period 2010 to 2018 remain to be collected across the country”.
“Attempts were made to publish the names and passport numbers of some uncollected passports, but this seemed to have infringed on Data Protection Laws of the country,” she said.
“The Ministry is, therefore, discussing alternative methods of informing the public on uncollected passports.”
She added that office spaces were being secured to set up centres in the capital towns of Central, Upper East and West Regions as well as the six newly created regions.
She cautioned the public to desist from fraudulent activities which undermined the integrity of the Ghanaian passport such as the use of forged documents in their applications.
“These are punishable by law and persons found engaging in such activities will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” she said.
