The Management of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has written to all airports and airlines to allow persons holding valid Ghanacard to board flights to Ghana without the need for visa effective 1st March 2022.
A statement issued by the GACL on Saturday, February 12 said “Following a key ceremony at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada on 9th February 2022 Ghana’s National Identity Card (GhanaCard) is now duly recognized globally as a valid ID card passport, a Machine Readable Travel Document that can be read and verified by the ICAO Public Key Directory.
According to the statement, “Ghana Airports Company Limited announces to all airports and airlines that holders of a valid Ghana card should be allowed to board flights to Ghana without the need for a visa.”
Already, the Spokesperson to Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Dr. Gideon Boako, has insisted that the certification ceremony at the Montreal by the ICAO have Ghana’s National Identity card, the Ghana Card, captured in the Organization’s PKD was the final step to accept the card traveling document.
His comments come after the ICAO has been reported to have described as “incorrect” media reports that it has agreed Ghana’s National Identity card, the Ghana Card, is equivalent to an electronic passport.
It clarified that that decision can only be made by Ghana’s government as “it is the sovereign right official state to decide upon its entry and exit requirements and the documents that need to be presented by traveling to and/or from its territory”.
In a Twitter thread on Friday, February 11, the United Nations specialized agency for civil aviation emphasized that it is not its role to certify the use of a member’s ID card for international travel in place of a passport.
“Any decision to accept such alternative travel identity document is made by the receiving state itself.”
But In a post to respond to a tweet by ICAO, which had suggested that it does not determine for a member state traveling document it accepts, Dr. Boako stated that any holder of the Ghana Card can board a flight anywhere in the world into the country, just as with the normal passport.