Officials express concern over 86,000 uncollected passports

Written by GliveRadio Accra on June 21, 2024

The Passport Office has issued a plea for Ghanaians to collect their passports from its offices nationwide. According to officials, approximately 86,000 printed passport booklets remain uncollected, causing concern among authorities.

Paul Cudjoe, a Director at the Passport Office Headquarters, shared his concern about the issue in an interview with Channel One News.

He indicated that the Passport Office’s responsibility ends once the passport is printed, and it is the applicant’s responsibility to collect it.

“The responsibility of the Passport Office concludes once the passport is printed. With the decentralization of our services and the establishment of regional passport offices (known as PAC), passport holders must now visit their designated PAC center where they completed their biometric data enrollment to collect their passports.”

“So, it is the responsibility of the applicant to collect the passport once it has been printed. It’s puzzling why people rush through the entire process—capturing biometric data, filling out forms—only to neglect picking up their ready passports.”

He pointed out that despite sending regular notifications via text messages or emails throughout the process, many applicants still fail to collect their passports.

“At each stage of the process, applicants receive text messages informing them of the status of their application. To

the point that even if it is suspended, you will be alerted to come to the headquarters for the issue to be resolved” he mentioned.Mr Cudjoe also indicated that the use of middlemen to acquire passports complicates tracking applicants due to incorrect data provided.

“Many of our clients utilize middlemen to obtain passports. These middlemen often provide false telephone numbers and non-existent addresses, making it difficult to locate applicants even if we attempt to use courier services for delivery.”

He also stressed the importance of renewing expired passports and ensuring they are collected promptly to avoid complications in the application process.

Meanwhile, to tackle this issue, the passport office is launching a nationwide media awareness campaign.

“We are conducting media engagements across the country, starting from Cape Coast, Takoradi, Sunyani, Ho, and other regions. Our goal is to address this specific issue during the awareness campaign. It remains one of our primary focuses.”