Hot!
Hotlines released to curb extortion and maltreatment at Passport Office
The Foreign Affairs Ministry has released hotlines to curb extortion and mistreatment at the various passport offices in the country.According to the Ministry, the decision follows several complaints it has received from passport applicants. “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration has observed with grave concerns some complaints by applicants about extortions and mistreatment meted out to them at some Passport Application Centers (PACs).”
“In an effort to deal with the menace, the Ministry is urging applicants who suffer any mistreatment or corruption to report such incidents,” the Ministry said in a press release issued on Thursday, August 17. It urged applicants who go through some form of extortion or mistreatment to report same through the hotlines provided.
They are:
Email: ipab@mfa.gov.gh
024-091-3284
024-079-3072
020-455-2056
020-455-2750
026-804-9031
026-979-4871
The Ministry in the statement also urged passport applicants to pay for their passports electronically and not by cash.
“The Ministry further wishes to remind the general public that passport applications are made on the passport application portal – passport.mfa.gov.gh and payment for the approved processing fees for the passport is made on the ghana.gov.gh platform based on the following.”
i. 32-page booklet – GH¢100.00
ii. 48-page booklet – GH¢150.00
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, last week during an unannounced visit to the passport office, bemoaned the corruption that has engulfed activities of staff and ‘goro boys and girls’.
Credit:Myjoyonline.com
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
More more more
BY MALIK SULLEMANA
