Select C’tee justifies passport fee increases

The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Andy Kwame Appiah-Kubi, has justified the unanimous decision by Parliament to approve the upward review of the new passport fees.

He said the new fees, passed under the Fees and Charges Regulation L.I. 2481, was meant to support the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to recover the high cost of passport production.

That, he said, would help the ministry to acquire the necessary equipment to be able to expedite the processing of passports and deliver same on time instead of relying on private institutions.

“It will also allow the ministry to open more passport application processing centres across the country to make passport acquisition more accessible to Ghanaians,” he said.

Increase

Mr Appiah Kubi stated this when he addressed the media in Parliament on the new passport fees by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently. The ministry adjusted the fees for passport applications from GH¢100 to GH¢500 for the 32-page booklet and to GH¢644 for the 48-page booklet under the standard service.

For those who want expedited service, they will pay GH¢700 for a 32-page booklet and GH¢800 for a 48-page booklet.

Mr Appiah-Kubi said in the past, passports were used as means of identification and establishing one’s Ghanaian identity.

He said it was for that reason the government had to subsidise the fees for passport because it was considered as “a right for every person to have it to prove their citizenship wherever they are”.

He, however, said due to the advent of the National Identification Card, it had become necessary for all institutions in the country to reconfigure their systems to accept the Ghana Card as a mean of proving one’s citizenship.

“Having come to that realisation, passports are now only means for travel; we (MPs) also agree that it is only 20 per cent of Ghanaians that need passports to travel outside the country.

“Looking from that context, passports now become a privilege and not a right or a need,” he said, saying that within the sub-region, passports in Ghana were the cheapest.

He said in the past the government had to subsidise passports which had a cost element of GH¢400. “We realised this subsidy is from the coffers of Ghana and all of us contribute to that kitty to underwrite that part of cost and how fair will it be for only 20 per cent to surcharge all of us for that which they want for their purpose of travel?” he said.

He cited how some countries within the sub-region charged between $150 and $200 for the same passport that only spanned five years. On the contrary, he said the normal passport in Ghana cost only GH¢500 and spanned a period of 10 years.

Unanimous approval

To address the issue of subsidy, Mr Appiah Kubi said the Foreign Affairs Ministry, through the Ministry of Finance, put the proposal before the House to approve the upward rate to enable it to recover the cost of passport production and deliver same on time.

He said the proposal was first referred to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee, chaired by the National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga East, Dominic Ayine, and all the members unanimously approved the proposal.

“It was based on the submission of the ministry that one passport cost GH₵400 to produce.

“So, we agreed that this is not an avenue to make profit but let us make sure that we allow the ministry to cover all associated cost—the cost of printing the booklet and the cost of administrative service,” he said.

He pointed out that during consideration of the proposal by members of the committee, which he served on as a Ranking Member, agreed to reduce the GH¢700 proposed rate to GH¢500.

“It was a unanimous decision and we brought our report to the House which adopted the report that the Fees and Charges Regulation must pass under L.I. 2481,” he said.