Member of Parliament for North Tongu, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has revealed that the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, has been summoned to appear before parliament by the Foreign Affairs Committee.

According to him, her appearance before the House is to answer questions with regards to the GhanaCard which doubles as an e-passport. Mr Ablakwa explained that Madam Botchway is expected to appear before the Committee on Thursday February 17.

As a member of the Foreign Affairs committee, Mr Ablakwa indicated that considering the developing issues with regards to the GhanaCard, particularly on the statement made by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which described as “incorrect” media reports that it had agreed that the card is equivalent to an electronic passport, he noted that it does not put the country in a good light, as such, the sector minister must appear before the committee.

“The foreign Affairs Committee has written to the Foreign Minister to appear before us tomorrow, Thursday, at 10AM and explain to us what is going on. We are worried about the image of our 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”.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa

Prior to this, the Spokesperson to the Vice President, Dr. Gideon Boako, refuted claims by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) that the National Identification Card, popularly known as Ghana Card, cannot be used as an e-passport.

The Organisation in a thread of tweets, clarified that it was not its responsibility to “certify the use of a state’s identity card for international travel in place of a passport”.

“Any decision to accept such alternative travel identity document is made by the receiving state itself”.
ICAO

However, in a social media post, Dr. Gideon Boako indicated that Ghana has officially undergone the process of making the GhanaCard certified as an e-passport and as such the ICAO’s explanations should be ignored.

“Ghana has crossed this stage with respect to the Ghana card, making it officially certified as having the right qualities to be admissible by receiving countries as e-passports subject to country-to-country bilateral agreements”.
Dr Gideon Bediako

On February 12, 2022, however, the Management of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) in a statement disclosed that all airports and airlines are to allow persons holding valid GhanaCards to board flights to Ghana without the need for visa.

It noted that 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”.

“Ghana Airports Company Limited announces to all airports and airlines that holders of a valid GhanaCard should be allowed to board flights to Ghana without the need for a visa”.
GACL