The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, is seeking an urgent amendment to the Fees and Charges Act to reduce the price of the ordinary passport booklet from GH₵500 to GH₵350.
The price for the 32-page passport booklet was increased from 100 cedis to 500 under the erstwhile Akufo-Addo government to cater for printing the booklet.
The NDC in opposition at the time labeled the hike as inconsiderate and promised a review should they win the 2024 general elections.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament House on Thursday, March 13, the North Tongu legislator Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa insisted that the reduction is expected to lift a burden on the Ghanaian people and will not come at a cost to the state.
“In our effort to make passports more accessible to all Ghanaians, and per instructions I have received from His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama, we are pleased to announce the reduction of the ordinary passport booklet, that is the 32-page booklet from the GH₵500 to GH₵350,” he said.
He said his outfit will shortly be in Parliament to undergo the needed legislative procedures to ensure that “this reduction is approved”.
Mr Ablakwa also hinted that a committee would be set up to review efforts to phase out the current booklet and replace it with chip-embedded copies. The move towards a chip-embedded passport booklet was initiated by the previous administration.
Listen to his presentation in Parliament in the audio below.
