WHAT IS HAPPENING AT PASSPOT APPLICATION CENTER?

Ghana has indeed taken the right decision by migrating to the biometric passport system in line with the recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It is expected that all countries especially in Africa will comply with this recommendations from the ICAO in order to reduce the level of fraud and criminal activities associated with passport and traveling documentation. This will further make easy identification in emergency cases since the bio data of the individual is captured by the machine. It is a step in the right direction as authorities have even given the public till 2015 to use their old passport and make preparation for the biometric one. This we say KUDOS to the authorities for making such a provision to the public.         

       The process of acquiring a biometric passport is very simple and straight forward than the previous one. You have to purchase the form at certain designated banks [ECO-BANK, GCB, ADB and the likes]. We are told by Passport Application Center that there are two types of forms: one cost fifty cedis (normal one) which will take three weeks for you to get your passport on grounds that you satisfied the requirement of PAC that is being eligible to hold Ghanaian passport. The other form also cost hundred cedis (express one) and that will take you one week for you to get your passport after satisfying the same requirement as above. This theory as I will call it seems refreshing to the public because comparing it to the old system, this new system is faster than the previous one since that system was taken three months before the passport is issued.

          However, in my opinion, the above procedure I have described is just on paper but not in practice as usual. If you want to get your passport on time, then, you have to start the application process as early as four months before your travelling deadline because you will not get your passport within the duration they have made us to understand. I personally met one gentleman at the PAC office who was lamenting on how they have delayed his passport for his travelling deadline to expire before issuing it to him. ``what am I going to do with it now? My travelling time has expired. We are living in a sad country’’, he cried out. Experience they say is the best teacher so I decided to apply for the biometric passport myself. After satisfying their entire requirement, I was given three weeks to come for my passport since I bought the fifty cedis form (normal one). From the 23<sup>rd</sup> of March 2012 till now, the three weeks is not up.Hahahaha-that is Ghana for you. We need to be frank with ourselves and hit the nail right on the head. What happens there is a mystery to some extent but not to some of us. We need to strengthen our state institution to devoid of corruption and lackadaisical attitude towards public work either than that, we will only succeed in changing government and continue to have empty hopes that our life will be changed overnight. Some of us know what goes on there but the question is where your evidence is or come and substantiates your claim. This is a special appeal to the director in charge of Passport application center to make sure that the right procedure is strictly adhered to or if there is a problem, they should let the general public know for I am sure they have public affairs department. Passport acquisition should not be a headache or task for the citizens. It is the citizen’s right to hold a Ghanaian passport once the person is a Ghanaian. Elsewhere, once you are born, all your particulars are taken and your birth certificate together with your passport and other supporting documents are issued instantly to you. We have not reached that stage but let us please make use of the limited resources we have and make it transparent as possible as we can. The Ghana that we are talking about is made up of us the individuals. We have one way or the other taken an oath in reciting the national pledge from our primary school days till now. Let us fulfill those promises we made by being faithful and loyal to the Republic. It is our responsibility to make sure that state institutions are made strong just like the United State president Barack Obama said ``Africa need strong institution and not strong leaders’’. If we commit ourselves to professionalism, discipline, good moral ethics and commitment at our various work places from now and then, our lives will change forever.