The Minority caucus in Parliament has slammed the government over the recent relaunch of the chip-embedded passport, describing it as wasteful and ineffective.
They argue the exercise did not address the backlog of passport applications but rather drained public funds.
According to the Deputy Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Nana Asafo Adjei Ayeh, the initiative was fully conceived, contracted, and financed under the previous NPP administration.
He said all testing was completed, and the project was formally launched in December 2024, including the procurement of 50,000 booklets and a standing order for 200,000 more.
He noted that despite these preparations, the new Foreign Affairs Minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, staged what he termed a “costly relaunch” on April 28, 2025, at a price of $1.2 million to taxpayers.
Mr. Ayeh claimed the event failed to expand printing capacity or address paper shortages.
“The relaunch solved nothing. It’s merely a rebranded work that has already been done and diverted scarce resources away from service delivery,” he said at a Minority press conference on Wednesday, July 9.
The Bosome Freho MP revealed that by June 2025, the Passport Office was sitting on 232,467 unprinted applications.
He further alleged that 68% of applicants had waited more than eight weeks for their passports despite paying for express services meant to be delivered in 15 days.
“Mothers are missing scholarship deadlines, and traders are stranded without travel documents. The video showing this crisis has been viewed over 1.4 million times,” Mr. Ayeh stated.
