Ghanaians will benefit from a set of passport reforms as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched new operational measures today, Monday, April 28.

The new introductions, announced by Foreign Affairs Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, are the upgrade of Ghana’s passport with an embedded chip, a 24-hour passport processing service, door-to-door courier passport delivery, an electronic tracking (e-tracking) system, and a 30% reduction in passport application fees.

The new travel document has a microprocessor that embeds the holder’s biometric and photo information and will be linked to the National Identification Authority’s database.

It also has other unique security features, such as an anti-fraud measure with both latent and patent indicators to ensure unimpeachable security.

The chip-embedded or e-passport is an upgrade of the current biometric passport being used by Ghanaians.

Meanwhile, the duration of acquiring a passport is expected to reduce to an average of 15 days.

Passport acquisition has been a daunting process for most Ghanaians despite the introduction of an online system.

The operations of middlemen, also known as ‘goro’ boys, have not helped matters, and the overall costs have triggered numerous complaints.

To address these lapses, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has taken this bold step to speed up the application process at a lower cost while rolling out systems to modernise passports.

At the launch of the new measures in Accra, Mr Ablakwa said, “It is the first time sector players within the sector put in concerted effort to provide extra security input that is to be detected at the front lines to the second and third lines, in strict compliance with the standards of the ICAO travel document framework.”

Explaining how the chip-embedded passport works, Mr Ablakwa provided an elaborate presentation, detailing the technology that backs the new booklets.

“The incorporation of nanotechnology into the protective overlays on the bio page adds an extra layer of security, thereby upgrading the overall security input in terms of features from 32 to over 150 overt and covert security features in his new chip-embedded passport.

“The integration of Micro Frequency Identification Chip that encodes and stores variable data of the bearer from the visual inspection, photo and machine-readable forms crowns the holistic package of an international standard travel document with first-class document security approved by ICAO,” he stated.