Frank Annoh-Dompreh (right) with Amanor Daku Mante after the visit
Director of Passports, Amanor Daku Mante, has said a new passport office will be opened in Tema in two weeks’ time to help ease the pressure on the main office in Accra.
He said as a result of the establishment of a new office in Tema, recruitment of data entry officers and other relevant employees would be done.
He said there has been pressure on the main office because of shortage of staff and absence of back-up system in case the machines used in printing the bio data in the passport and for lamination break down.
Mr Daku Mante explained that there may be general recruitment drive by the office to beef up the strength of the workforce at the Passport office.
The director made these known to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament, Frank Annoh-Dompreh, who paid a familiarisation visit to the office last Friday to find out the challenges the office faces in its work to provide passport to Ghanaians
He said in a day the Accra office receives 200 online and 300 manual applications while averagely 2,000 applications nationwide are received every day from the regional offices in Kumasi, Tamale and Sunyani.
He said the office has plans to provide regional offices in all the 10 regions and that after Tema, Koforidua, Ho, Bolgatanga and Wa offices would be provided for full decentralisation.
The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Nsawam/Adoagyiri, called on the director to bring a proposal to parliament for extra fees to be charged for expressed services in a day or two in order to boost the internally generated revenue of the office.
He also suggested that the production of the passport booklets be handled directly by the Passport office so that the periodic artificial shortage of the passport booklets would be avoided, stressing that for the booklets to be supplied by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department is not helping the smooth operations of the Passport office.
He commended the director for doing his best to make acquisition of passport very easy despite the challenges facing the office, adding that he would take the back-up machines problem to the committee level for the government to intervene.
By Thomas Fosu Jnr