At a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday, June 19, Senior Presidential Advisor on Public Sector Reforms, Yaw Osafo-Marfo, disclosed that 86,000 passports remain uncollected at application centres nationwide.
The unclaimed passports are distributed with 19,500 in the Greater Accra Region, 8,696 in Cape Coast, and 8,000 in Takoradi as of June 2024.
Osafo-Marfo expressed deep concern over this significant number, emphasizing the financial burden on the government. He noted that while the government subsidizes passport production to around four dollars per passport, the actual cost is approximately $100 each.
“People are so anxious and do everything they can to get a passport. After we’ve gone through to produce the passports, they don’t come to collect,” Osafo-Marfo lamented, highlighting the financial implications as a locking up of government capital.
To address this issue, Osafo-Marfo called for an investigation into why individuals fail to collect their passports. He urged authorities and researchers to delve into the root causes to effectively tackle the problem.
Paul Kwaw Kudjo, Director of the Passport Office, also warned against using middlemen for passport applications. He encouraged applicants facing challenges to directly approach the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ client service unit or passport application centres for assistance.
“The problem of the Ghanaian is trying to use another person. This is not about whether you are educated or not,” Kudjo stated. “Go to the right source and seek the right information and support.”
The backlog of uncollected passports underscores inefficiencies and challenges in the passport acquisition process, despite efforts to improve public service delivery.
