The Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, has asserted that the new passport application fees are a result of many years of people paying the lowest processing fees.
He said that Ghanaians are now paying for years of unrealistic passport processing fees.
The Foreign Affairs Ministry, in an April 1 statement, announced the increase in application fees for all passport categories.
The fee increment has seen a 32-page standard passport move from GHC100 to GHC500 and GHC644 for a 48-page standard booklet, effective today, Monday, April 1, 2024.
In the same vein, applicants opting for the 32-page expedited service will pay GHC700 and GHC800 for the 48-page expedited service.
The over 500 percent increments have since sparked public concerns, with the minority in Parliament threatening to “trigger a process to revisit the new fees” when the House resumes from recess.
However, Mr. Ampratwum-Sarpong, in an interview with JoyNews, emphasised that the ministry needed to charge “a sustainable and realistic price” that commiserates with the cost of processing a passport.
“It costs GHC400 to produce the 32-page passport, and we all this while have been selling it at GHC100, highly subsidised,” he said, adding, “No serious business will do that, you buy something for GHC400 and come and sell it for a GHC100, it doesn’t make sense.”
He indicated that the increment “has been on the drawing board for a very long time,” but many ministers have shied away from implementing the reviewed prices.
He therefore described the decision by the current minister to increase the fees as “bold” to ensure that people pay the realistic fees for the acquisition of passports, stressing that Ghana’s cost for acquiring a passport is the lowest within the sub-region.
“For starters Ghana’s passport is the lowest in the whole West African region. The second lowest, strangely is Liberia..before the increment, and even with the increment, we still remain the lowest against Liberia,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the MP for the North Tongu constituency and Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has hinted that the minority will push for the ministry to reduce the fees.
Read also: Minority to push for the reversal of ‘draconian’ passport application fees – Ablakwa