An aide to Vice President, Dr. Gideon Boako has asked Ghanaians to ignore publications in the media which suggests that the Ghana Card is not an equivalent to an e-passport.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, February 12, the Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia's aide noted that the claim that the Ghana Card is now an equivalent to an e-passport still holds true.
according to him, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) explanation on the matter only gives credence to the fact the the Ghana Card can now be used as an e-passport.
The ICAO in a series of tweets described as “incorrect” media reports that it has agreed that the Ghana’s National Identity card, the Ghana Card, is equivalent to an electronic passport.
In a Twitter thread on Friday, February 11, the United Nations specialized agency for civil aviation emphasized that it is not its role to certify the use of a member’s ID 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.”
But Dr. Boako has debunked the ICAO's comments in the post below.
Read Dr. Gideon Boako's full post below;
Just like our current normal booklet passport you will need ICAO to approve and capture the data into their Public Key Directory (PKD) for certification before any country can accept it as official travel documents. Such key ceremony certification as was done on 9th February in the case of the Ghanacard is the ultimate step to take before any national identity card/passport can be used for travelling purposes. Ghana has crossed this stage with respect to the Ghanacard making it officially certified as having the right qualities to be admissible by receiving countries as e-passport subject to country-to-country bilateral agreements. Through the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), official communication has gone to all border ports that Ghana as a receiving country is accepting holders of the Ghanacard into Ghana. The statement by ICAO that Ghana has crossed the major millstone in efforts to provide for more international acceptance of its biometric electronic travel documents is therefore not inconsistent with official communication from government.
In practical terms, the holder of a Ghanacard will be allowed to board a flight to Ghana (receiving country) from any airport, just as with the normal biometric passport, without the need for a visa.
Also, Diasporan Ghanaians who hold the Ghanacard will not require a visa to travel to Ghana.
Within ECOWAS the Ghanacard can be used to travel to any country. Traveling outside ECOWAS however, will require that you use your normal biometric passport which will contain your visas.
In the not too distant future, we expect that electronic visas will be issued under ICAO 2.0 protocols. When this starts, electronic visas could be issued on the Ghanacard under bilateral arrangements with other countries. “
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