Ghana to start issuing ECOWAS passport next year
Masahudu Ankiilu Kunateh, Ghanadot
Accra, June 29, Ghanadot - Ghana
will from next year start issuing the Economic Community of
West African (ECOWAS) passport that will subsequently
replace the existing national passport.
The national passport is expected to run side by side with
the ECOWAS passport for a one year period after which the
national passport will phaseout.
The ECOWAS passport will help reduce the stress and
difficulties faced by Ghanaian travelers in countries in the
sub-region.
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Muhammed Mumuni disclosed this
in Accra.
Currently, Senegal, Nigeria, Niger, Benin, Guinea and
Liberia use the ECOWAS passport.
The project initiated in 2003 is a harmonised smart passport
(ePassport) for ECOWAS citizens and will impel Ghana to
join the member countries which have begun using it.
The electronic passport will have a chip to capture and
store the bio-metric data (fingerprint information) of
holders.
The biometric identification serves as a security check to
make it impossible for people who fraudulently apply for
more than one passport to do so.
Mr. William Awinador Kanwirige, Director at the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, explained further in an interview that the
adoption of the ECOWAS passport is progress made from the
use of the ECOWAS Travel Certificate.
"The ECOWAS passport does not only give you an ECOWAS
citizen identity. Citizens will also use it when applying
for international visas," he said.
He made known that the new passport will have the
inscription of ECOWAS as well as Ghana, to distinguish it
from those held by other ECOWAS citizens.
"Every applicant will be tied to the information he gives
us. With that, we are optimistic that the new system will
tackle passport thefts and multiple acquisitions.
"We will be rolling-out sensitisation programmes nationwide
to let Ghanaians know of the upcoming change and some new
rules that come with the application for the new passport,"
he said.
Recently, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, President of the ECOWAS
Commission appealed to Ghana to speed up the implementation
of the common passport regime for member states, saying it
was a key factor to bolstering the integration process.
He was contributing to the need for a common passport for
citizens if Africa was to unite under a common government.
Dr Chambas noted ECOWAS countries could not be left out in
the globalisation process, which meant free movement of
persons across borders without hindrance. Security issues
should not be the hindrance for integration, he said, adding
that those involved in criminal activities were a minute or
insignificant proportion of the population of the ECOWAS
sub-region.
Ghanadot
