The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has said that the Ghana Card is not a replacement for the country’s biometric passport.
According to her, the card could not be used to travel to other countries within or outside ECOWAS.
"It must be underscored that the passport, together with the travel certificate, is the only approved travel document for Ghanaians that is internationally recognised," the minister added.
Ms Botchwey made this known on the floor of Parliament yesterday in response to questions by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament (MP) for Salaga South, Zuwera Mohammed Ibrahimah, on whether Ghanaians no longer needed the passport to travel and also whether the Ghana Card now represented the Ghanaian passport.
Discussions
Ms Botchwey further said her outfit was in discussions with ECOWAS member states and the nation's bilateral partners for the Ghana Card to be used as a travel document.
"Mr Speaker, at the moment, the Ghana Card cannot be used for travels to other countries, either within or outside ECOWAS, as that will require bilateral agreements with the countries for their authorities to accept the card as a travel document," she told the House.
The minister said although the card bore the technical features of an e-passport, there was still a long way to go for it to be recognised as such.
Differences
On differences between the card and the e-passport, Ms Botchwey said an e-passport is an international travel document which contains the bio-data of its holder on a microchip and robust security features, while the Ghana Card, as defined in Section 19 of the National Identification Authority Act, 2006 (Act 707), is "an identity card with a personal identification number issued by the authority for purposes of identification of a person to whom the card is issued".
Therefore, she said, while the card was principally an identification document, an e-passport was essentially a travel document.
Ms Botchwey recalled that at a recent ceremony held at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada, Ghana was welcomed into the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD), a central repository needed for international travel documents.
"The congratulatory messages sent to Ghana by the ICAO following the latter's decision to join the PKD was not to suggest in any way that the Ghana Card had become an e-passport," she further stated.
Source: graphiconline.com
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@Esi Mansa, I 100% agree with you. We were told they will give us the opurtunity to register our ghana sim cards from mid April. To date, nothing has happened and the deadline is supposed to be end of July. I don't know what is going to happen to our sim cards. I foresee a court battle between the Diasporan citizens and NIA + NCA as it will be unlawful to disable our sim cards when we haven't been given the chance to register them.
Its understandable that the various "Embassies of Ghana" have the mandate of renewing and working out new passports for Ghanaians living and working abroad, while cant the ministry of foreign affairs in colloboration with the national identification authority, give the mandate to the various Ghana Embassy to help Ghanaians abroad have acceses to the Ghana Card? If there is any calculated palns from the two offices helping ghanaians abroad getting the Ghana Card, its betterto be transparant and publish those plans on the Ghana Web. It will be helpful for Ghanaians to read and have some information about the acquisition of Ghana Card at abroad. At the moment all information about getting Ghana Card abroad is deadlock. Thank You
The Ghana Card which is the "identity card" with a persons identification number is very frustrating to purchase the card. Ghanaians are not having it all that easy to acquire the Ghana Card even when they have applied and fufilled all the requirements at the recognised office. Most so, there had not been any plans from the National Identification Authority to lay down pragmatic plans for Ghanaians staying and working abroad, to have acesses for applying for the ghana card. The understanding is that the various Ghana Embassies abroad have not been issued or planned information from the office of the "National Identification Authority nor from the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Intergration" to let Ghanaians living and working abroad to have accesses to the Ghana Card. If you say, come home and get your Ghana Card!! How can two weeks holydays in Ghana be a way out to apply for the Ghana Card?? Its practically not possible. Am therefore appealing to the National Identification Authority in collaboration with the Foreign Affairs Ministry to work out a pragmatic planning for Ghanaians living and working abroad to have the opportunity of getting the Ghana Card.