The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration is advocating for a substantial hike in passport fees, seeking to elevate the current cost from GH¢100 to GH¢644, according to statements made by the sector minister, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, in an interview with Graphic Online.
Mrs. Botchwey highlighted the financial strain on the government, explaining that the production cost of a passport booklet is GH¢400, leaving a deficit of GH¢300 per passport. This deficit, she emphasized, impedes vital investments in the Passport Office and is no longer sustainable.
“Ghanaians pay just about GH¢100 for a passport, To produce one passport booklet, it costs GH¢400, which means that for every passport that an applicant acquires, the government has to put in GH¢300 and this is not sustainable,”
Addressing the Parliament before the approval of a GH¢1.127 million budget estimate for her ministry, Ayorkor Botchwey urged the honorable house to consider the proposal, currently under review by the Committee on Subsidiary Legislation. She stressed the need for realistic prices, emphasizing that passports primarily cater to those who require them for travel rather than serving as identification cards.
Ayorkor Botchwey informed the Parliament about the impending resolution of the passport backlog, revealing plans to acquire a giant printer to expedite the process.
“On the cost of passports, it is not sustainable, therefore, I will plead with this honorable house to look at the issue for us. It is already before the subsidiary legislation committee, and I’m hoping that Ghanaians will pay realistic prices for passports. At the moment, passports don’t serve as IDs, we have national ID cards. Therefore, those who need passports are those who need them to travel, and I don’t think that they would want us to continue to subsidize it.”
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Kwaku Ampratwum-Sarpong, defended the proposed fee increase, citing rising production costs and the comparatively low affordability of Ghana’s passport fees in comparison to neighboring West African countries.
He disclosed ongoing discussions with Parliament to finalize the approved fees and emphasized the need to address the subsidy currently provided.
“Liberia charges $50, we charge $8, meaning we have to subsidize every passport. So the money to buy the printers is used to subsidize the passports… And also, we are thinking of upgrading our passport from biometric to chip-embedded. So the chip-embedded version is going to cost more. If we continue charging at $8, we will continue to face the problems that we are having at the passport office… So we have to raise the fees,”
The deputy minister emphasized the necessity of raising fees to cover the costs associated with both the introduction of chip-embedded passports and the ongoing subsidization. The proposed fee increase aims to ensure the sustainability of passport services and align Ghana with prevailing standards in the West African sub-region.