According to a member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, the Foreign Affairs Committee has asked the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, to come before it to answer concerns about the GhanaCard as an e-passport.
Mr Ablakwa said that she would appear before the Committee on Thursday, February 17 at 10 a.m.
Mr Ablakwa, a North Tongu lawmaker, said emerging issues surrounding the GhanCard, particularly when the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) described as “incorrect” media reports that it had agreed that the card is equivalent to an electronic passport, are embarrassing to the country, for which the Minister has been summoned before the committee.
On Wednesday, February 16, he announced on the New Day program on TV3 with Johnnie Hughes, “The Foreign Affairs Committee has written to the Foreign Minister to come before us tomorrow Thursday at 10AM and explain what is going on.”
“We are worried about the image ofour country. ICAO statement is embarrassing, to say that what the Vice President is saying is incorrect . They say that it is not even for them to determine, it takes bilateral agreements to decide and ICAO is right because we have been approving these bilateral agreements, they come before us.”
In response to the ICAO statement, Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s Spokesperson, Dr Gideon Boako, insisted that the ICAO certification ceremony in Montreal to have Ghana’s National Identity card, the Ghana Card, captured in the Organization’s PKD was the final step to accept the card as a traveling document.
It clarified that that decision can only be made by Ghana’s government as “it is the sovereign right of each individual state to decide upon its entry and exit requirements and the documents that need to be presented by those travelling to and/or from its territory”.
On Friday, February 11, the United Nations specialized agency for civil aviation stressed that it is not its responsibility to verify the use of a member’s ID card in lieu of a passport for foreign travel.
“Any decision to accept such alternative travel identity document is made by the receiving state itself.”
However, in response to an ICAO tweet suggesting that it does not select which travel documents a member state accepts, Dr. Boako claimed that any bearer of the Ghana Card may board a flight into the nation from anywhere in the globe, just like a regular passport.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has written to all airports and airlines to enable those with valid GhanaCards to board flights to Ghana without a visa.
“Following a key ceremony at the Headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, Canada on 9th February 2022, Ghana’s National Identity Card (GhanaCard) is now duly recognized globally as a valid ID card passport, a Machine Readable Travel Document that can be read and verified by the ICAO Public Key Directory (PKD) at most airports,” the GACL said in a statement on Saturday, February 12.
“Ghana Airports Company Limited announces to all airports and airlines that holders of a valid Ghana card should be allowed to board flights to Ghana without the need for a visa.”
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SOURCE: 3NEWS
