Minority demands audit of passport system over alleged $1.2m relaunch

The Minority in Parliament is calling for an urgent audit of Ghana’s passport acquisition system, citing persistent delays and alleged financial mismanagement under the current administration.

This comes in the wake of recent complaints from the public regarding delays in processing and delivering the newly introduced chip-embedded passports, launched by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs just weeks ago.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, July 9, Deputy Ranking Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ayeh Asafo-Adjei, questioned the rationale behind a \$1.2 million expenditure by the Ministry for what he described as a mere “relaunch” of a system already initiated under the previous New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.

According to the Bosome Freho MP, the chip-embedded passport programme had already been fully conceived, contracted, and financed by the Akufo-Addo administration.

He noted that Cabinet approved the initiative in August 2024, and the official rollout—including the procurement of 50,000 booklets and a standing order for 200,000 more—was launched on December 2, 2024.

“When the new minister staged a costly relaunch on the 28th April, 2025, an event that alone cost the taxpayer 1.2 million US dollars, he failed to increase printing capacity or paper supply,” he said.

Mr. Asafo-Adjei revealed that as of June, the Passport Office had over 32,000 pending applications.

He argued that the relaunch did not improve service delivery but instead diverted scarce resources toward rebranding an already-existing initiative.

“Within eight weeks, the passport office was sitting on 32,467 on printing, printed applications. 68% of applicants had waited more than eight weeks despite paying for 15 days express service. The relaunch solved nothing,” he added.

The Minority is therefore demanding a full audit of the current passport acquisition system to ensure accountability and improve efficiency.