Ghana Card has a long way to go before it becomes E-Passport — Ayorkor Botchwey

The Minister for Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey has rubbished claims that the Ghana Card is equivalent to an Electronic Passport (E-Passport).

Answering questions on the floor of Parliament on Tuesday, June 14, 2022, the Minister explained that although the Ghana Card has features of an E-Passport, it has a long way to go before it can be used for such purpose.

“To conclude Mr. Speaker, I wish to reiterate that even though the Ghana Card bears the technical features of an E-passport and has the potential to be used as an E-passport there is still a long way to go for it to be recognized as such,” Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey stressed.

According to Hon. Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, the Ghana Card at the moment is only accepted within the ECOWAS sub-region although it has the potential to move beyond those borders in the future.

In the past several government officials including the Vice President of the Republic, H.E Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia have made the claim that the Ghana Card is equivalent to E-Passport.

Although there were claims that the card has been accepted by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as E-Passport, the international body subsequently clarified that such claims were untrue.

Source: Modernghana