He said apart from the Greater Accra Region all other centres
created in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region, Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo
Region, Sekondi in the Western Region and Tamale in the Northern
Region, were not given the mandate to issue passport but take
biometric data of prospective applicants and pass them on to Accra for
issuance.
“The regions are processing centres not issuing centres” he said.
Mr Chris Kpodo, who was speaking on the floor of Parliament
during question time, said though the regional centres were
established to deal with the congestion in Accra, some found it
convenient to travel to Accra, adding that the phenomenon was putting
much pressure on the Accra office.
He said these centres were all operational and applicants in
these regions no longer need to travel to Accra to obtain passports
though some applicants did that out of choice or ignorance about the
existence of the centres.
He disclosed that the centre in the Volta Region would become
operational by the end of July 2011.
“Our diplomatic missions abroad have been provided with the
standard list of equipment required for them to process biometric
passports and directed to source for the hard ware in their
prospective areas of accreditation,” he said.
He noted that the Ghana’s missions were not also mandated with
the issuance of the passport, but also serve as biometric Passport
Application Centres. They are also supposed to furnish the Accra
office with biometric data of applicants for Accra to issue the
passports.
He stated that the project company – Buck Press would visit the
missions for installation and training of the staff to kick start the
processing of biometric passports. “The software can only be installed by Buck Press hence the visit,” he explained.
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