A premium passport application centre has been commissioned in Kumasi, the Ashanti Region.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony on Thursday, March 5, 2020, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Muhammad Habibu Tijani, said the opening of the centre is in fulfilment of the government’s determination to extend passport services to the doorstep of Ghanaians in all parts of the country.
He described the commissioning ceremony as an important milestone which signifies a new era for the good people of the Ashanti Region and the country at large considering the large number of passport applications that are received daily at the Kumasi Application Centre, which I have been informed is over four hundred (400) applications per day.
Indeed such a huge volume of applications posed a challenge to the Kumasi PAC, he noted.
According to him, the forgoing invariably affects smooth processing and enhanced customer service at the Centre.
To this end, he explained, it was essential that we put in place an additional Passport Application Centre that will lessen the burden and stress that residents of Kumasi have had to endure to acquire passports.
The Kumasi Premium Passport Application Centre, he added, is the second Ghana Premium Passport Application Centre to be established after the one in Accra.
He observed that the Centre is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) between the government of Ghana represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and VFS GLOBAL.
The main objective of the Premium Centre, he disclosed, is to leverage technology to enhance passport acquisition process and delivery to Ghanaians and to complement the work of the existing Passport Application Centre(s).
The Premium PAC is an online based system, the Deputy Minister noted, adding that applicants will have to log on to the Ministry’s website; www.passport.mfa.gov.gh to access the service.
“The application form can be filled in the comfort of their homes and offices before coming to the centre to complete the process on the date of appointment. The Online system is expected to bring convenience and comfort to applicants and staff of the centre,” he said.
“As part of the process to expand the digital space, and to continue to innovate in a fast changing world as well as to address the challenges that confronted the manual passport application system, the Ministry has as at 1st March, 2020, migrated all the PACs to the Online Passport Application System,” he said.
“Consequently, the Manual Passport Application process ceased to operate on the same date,” according to him.
“As reiterated earlier, the commissioning of this Centre is in fulfilment of the Government’s determination to extend passport services to the doorstep of Ghanaians in all parts of the country,” he said.
“With the official opening of this Centre, residents in this Region can apply to either of the two Centres (Kumasi PAC and the Premium PAC). I urge residents of this region to make good use of the Centre, cooperate with the officers and also provide useful feedbacks to the office to enable us improve on our service,” he urged.
In attendance at the ceremony were Simon Osei-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister Osei Assibey-Antwi, Metropolitan Chief Executive of Kumasi,
Regional Security Service Commanders, Regional Directors and Staff of Allied Institutions, Religious Leaders.
—Daily Guide
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