A GIS officer verifying the Ghanacard of a bearer
FOURTEEN Ghanaians were yesterday admitted into the country through the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) with their Ghanacards.
This followed an announcement by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) on Monday that Ghanacard holders and dual nationals arriving in the country but also holding the valid citizenship identity card would be admitted with effect from Tuesday, March 1.
The announcement comes as a further impetus for the status of the Ghanacard which is officially recognized as an ICAO-compliant travel document and which also plays some roles of the Ghanaian travel document.
Upon arrival at the KIA, the Ghanacard holders were ushered to specially designated booths where their cards were checked and verified on an electronic system to ascertain their authenticity.
Following the verification, the bearers were processed after which they are granted entry into the country.
Head of Public Relations of the GIS, Superintendent Amoako Atta said: “For now, the first step is for Ghanaians travelling to Ghana. If we want to go further to use the Ghana card to travel to other jurisdictions, then we can also say Ghana should have bilateral agreements with any country that would like to have that kind of reciprocal travel agreement with us. But now there is nothing like that in the offing.”
Deputy Head of the Management Information System Department, GIS, Sheriff Karikari also said: “All the airlines have been communicated to on where to direct Ghanacard holders upon arrival at the airport” adding that Ghana had had agreements with various airlines operators to admit Ghanaians bearing the Ghana card on their flights.
A passenger sharing her experience said the Ghanacard comes in very handy as it reduces the stress they would have had to undergo when their passports expired while out of Ghana.
By Nii Adjei Mensahfio