The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has debunked assertions that it has endorsed the use of the Ghana Card for international travels.
According to the Organization, it only likened the Ghana Card to an e-passport at an event it recently held in Montreal, Canada.
In a post on social media, ICAO said reports that Ghanaians can now travel with the Ghana Card are incorrect.
“ICAO is aware of recent and incorrect media reports claiming that ICAO has agreed that the Ghanaian ID card is equivalent to an ePassport. However, it is not ICAO’s role to certify the use of a State’s Identity Card for international travel in place of a passport”, it said.
“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.”
“A number of States worldwide accept specified national ID cards as identity documents during air travel based on bilateral agreement between issuing and receiving states. *Any* decision to accept such alternative travel identity documents is made by the receiving state itself,” it added.
This clarification from ICAO comes after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also denied any knowledge of the Ghana Card being used for international travels.
But Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kwaku Ampratwum Sarpong told Akoma FM on Thursday, February 10 that neither the minister herself nor her two deputies knew anything about the reports.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on Wednesday, February 9 reported that holders of the Ghana Card, as well as its future biometric equivalents, can present it as official documentation at all 197 (ICAO) compliant countries and 44,000 airports worldwide and board flights to Ghana.
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