With less than three weeks for the introduction of the biometric passport system in the country, the public has been asked not to panic as there will be a five-year interface period for the current passports to be phased out. Director of Passports, Madam Bernice Benneh, said in Accra Friday that travellers would not encounter any difficulties with the introduction of the new system, as passports currently in circulation would remain valid until November 2015. She was speaking at a training session to sensitise Regional Immigration Commanders and Information Service Officers towards the implementation process of the biometric passports to ensure its smooth launch. The biometric passport, expected to be introduced on February 3, has enhanced security features, and links the holder to the document, through fingerprint acquisition. The new regime is in compliance with an International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO) directive which enjoins all nations to go biometric by 20 I O. It has inbuilt efficient processing and issuance mechanisms designed to eliminate present frustrations caused by delays and middlemen. Madam Benneh said with the new system, applicants would appear in person at the passport office or regional passport application centres to undergo a mandatory interview, and also have their personal data, including photographs and fingerprints captured. She said the country had adopted the two dimensional machine-readable bar code (2D bar code) as a storage template, which was also in compliant with the ICAO directive. She said although the country had not yet migrated to the e-passport system (passports which have an integrated circuit or chip embedded in their back cover), should a decision be taken in future to print chip embedded passports, the country had the equipment to do that. Mr Lawrence Satuh, acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, urged personnel of the immigration and information services to "approach the new process with open minds and willing hands. "There will be challenges but let us not start fighting over turf, it is the interest of Ghana that is at stake," he said. Moses K. Gyamfi, Deputy Director of Immigration in charge of Operations and Nii Adjiri Bannor, Director of the Information Services Department, stressed the need for effective collaboration among their officers to ensure smooth implementation process. Source: Ghanaian Times/Ghana