The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has lashed out at some passport office staff who connive with middlemen to demand exorbitant fees for the acquisition of passports.
Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey on Monday, August 14 stormed the passport office in Accra unannounced to vent her anger and sacked some officers for aiding middlemen (Goro boys) to charge between GHS2000 and GHS3000 for passports.
Describing the act as wrong, the minister wondered how a GH¢100 standard service and a GH¢150 for expedited service had shot up astronomically.
Her visit to the passport office was on the back of reports in the media that the issue of ‘Goro boys’ in the passport acquisition process has become rife.
Speaking to the media after the visit, she said “Just two days ago the reports in the Daily Guide newspaper that the issue of goro people involved in our passport acquisition process has become rife.
“It is wrong. How can One Hundred Ghana Cedis for standard service to acquire a passport and One Hundred and Fifty Cedis for expedited service be bumped up to GHS2000 and GHS3000, it is wrong.
“The goro boys are outside the passport office, they need somebody inside to work with, they cannot do it on their own. People are paying GHS2000, or GHS3000 to acquire a passport? Why should this be so?”
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