COMMENTARY 

ON NEW ONLINE PASSPORT APPLICATION

Ghanaians, especially potential travelers, are heaving a sigh of relief at news that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has introduced an online passport application system to replace the current manual way of applying for passports.

The new system is meant to reduce the delays in passport processing as well the human traffic at the passport offices in the country, among others.

In spite of the joy the news brings, there are many skeptics who think, just as it was with the biometric system, this new application process would degenerate into the same chaotic and shameful way of acquiring passports in Ghana as the situation has been for some decades now.

A few years ago when the Passport Office introduced the biometric passport to replace the manual one, the system started functioning well with applicants getting their passports within two weeks for express and a month for ordinary applications. It was seen as the beginning of a new era where the Ghanaian could proudly walk to the Passport Office to get that document within a short time.

However, just when applicants started rejoicing over the new trend, the situation worsened and has since been chaotic and appalling, to say the least. Acquiring a passport, to many Ghanaians, is like prospecting for gold in a typical galamsey area. The process is not only tedious and time-consuming but has become dehumanizing.

It is a big shame for a nation that is sixty years old to subject its citizens to such humiliating situations just to acquire a national identity document to be able to travel or for other purposes.

A walk to the two main passport offices in Accra shows Ghanaians queuing for hours to go through the process of submitting their applications or going through biometric registration. 

The regularly chaotic scenes at the passport offices speak volumes of our seriousness as a nation, considering how technology is being deployed in many countries to save time and money in the processing of documents such as passports. With the respect Ghana has gained internationally, many foreigners wonder why she has not been able to devise a means of making passport processing much easier and faster.

There have been several arguments to the effect that, the problems of the passport office can be traced to the work of middlemen, popularly known as ‘goro’ boys. These middlemen provide services at a higher fee to prospective applicants who want their passports faster than usual or who dread the hustle one has to go through at the passport office. They charge very high fees and promise to deliver passports in record time. 

In many instances, they fail to get the passports for their clients on time after taking huge sums of money from them.

However, any person who knows how passports are processed would be quick to identify the problem from a different angle. ‘Goro boys’ are not and can never be the cause of the problem. 

They cannot do anything without the active collaboration of staff of the Passport Office, who are suspected of benefiting from the fees ‘goro’ boys charge from their clients. Many a goro boy would always boast of knowing a member of staff inside the office who would ensure the process goes faster for the client, an indication that it is a network between them and the workers of the Passport Office.

As their name implies, they serve as middlemen for some members of staff of the Passport Office, who, to some large extent, are the real ‘goro boys’. The tag suits them most because many of them leave behind the real work for which they receive salaries to attend to the passport forms submitted by the ‘goro boys’, creating artificial delays that justify patronizing the services of the ‘goro boys’.

If passports are processed on time, goro boys would have no business at the premises of the Passport Office since the only justification they give for offering their services to applicants is the alacrity or speed with which they get the documents processed.

Against this backdrop, the introduction of the online application is seen as a good move worthy of commendation. It is hoped that the system would take off at a fast rate to bring to an end the manual submission of passports forms and the work of goro boys. It is also expected that it would reduce the regular queues at the premises of the institution to save prospective travelers from wasting time on a mere identification document.

In spite of the bright outlook this new system presents, there are doubts over the ability of the online application to succeed in eliminating the goro boys phenomenon, the long queues at the passport offices and the hours wasted.

These doubts stem from the fact that the biometric system that started on a very good note, ended up becoming worse than what it was intended to improve. 

There are fears that beneficiaries of the goro boys phenomenon would find a means of making the system useless so as to become relevant to clients. It is reported that the middlemen and some workers have in the past resisted several attempts at clearing them from the place.

 There are allegations to the effect that they have contributed to some extent in the replacement of several Directors of Passports, any time those directors’ actions begin to pose a threat to their work and relevance. It is, therefore, expected that they would mount some resistance to the system or even sabotage it in some ways.

The solution to the relapse is very simple- effective supervision. Effective supervision holds the key to the success of this new system, else it would end up becoming the same as other measures have been. Just putting a good system in place is not enough; the will to let it work matters most.

Supervision is the missing link in the processing system of this country. May presume that things would work on their own without supervision. 

Those in charge of the office need to have a system in place to follow up on how things are going, in addition to the CCTVs placed at the premises of the office. Occasional checks on the grounds, overtly and covertly would to a large extent give the heads of the institution the chance to monitor how things are going and what applicants think about it. Information gathered from the applicants can serve as guidelines for improvement.

This is a very great opportunity for the leadership of the Passport Office to change the bad image it has made over the years as a result of its inability to make the acquisition of passports more decent and humane.

The system ought to be checked independently and constantly to ensure that those who deliberately choke it to their advantage are not given the chance. To think that the goro boys and the allies would sit down to let this new system work would be like expecting them to allow their hands to be tied without any resistance. They surely would devise new means of luring innocent applicants to patronize them and this is the challenge the Passport Office must work to overcome.

It is interesting to note that some of these goro boys have made this service their life-time source of income with some of them having done this for many decades now.

In another vein, the attitude of seeing public business as nobody’s business must end. Those put in charge of public institutions such as the Passport Office need to see it as their personal business so they can put in their best to ensure the institutions succeed.

Ghanaians and for that matter passport applicants want to see the system improve so they can boast of being citizens of a respectable nation.

In the midst of all these, there is the need to ensure that the security and dignity of passports are not compromised on the altar of speed. This calls for strict adherence to the principles of truthfulness in the information presented to the Passport Office through proper scrutiny and checks with the relevant institutions on the genuineness of some of the documents presented.

Whilst tackling the problems of passport processing, there is the need to also look at other identification documentations such as the birth certificates, among others. When all those documents are well synchronized for proper coordination and easy checking. The disjointed manner in which state institutions work ought to be checked so as to facilitate processes without compromising on principles of integrity and Ghanaian values.

The introduction of the online passport application system is a good move that deserves commendation; but, it can only work if we all want it to work. It takes collaborative effort to get things of this nature done.  The authorities have a responsibility to ensure it works and no excuses would be tolerated any more.

Acquiring passports is a right to every Ghanaian, not a privilege to a few who know big men or can afford the services of goro boys. 

The goro boy phenomenon must end with this new online application system, else those at the Passport Office would have to bow down their heads in big shame 

Written By Ruth Abla Adjorlolo A Journalist