'Ghana Card' has met all requirements for e-passport admission – Augustine Blay

ICAO clarifies ‘Ghana Card’ e-passport reports

Montreal event was meant for easy transition into E-passport – Blay

Ghana Card embedded with chip element

Augustine Yaw Blay, Executive Secretary of the Vice President has insisted that Ghana’s Identification Card also known as the ‘Ghana Card’ has met all requirements meant to be admitted as an electronic passport.

This comes after the International Civil Aviation Organisation (IACO) earlier debunked assertions that it was not responsible 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 earlier clarified.

Reacting to the development in an interview on JoyNews’ The Probe segment, Augustine Blay on Sunday said the event held in Montreal, Canada was meant to trigger the necessary infrastructure required for an easy transition into the E-passport.

“The Ghana Card has a chip, our passport today doesn’t have the chip so it doesn’t qualify as an e-passport. So, Ghana Card as it stands has the E-passport embedded in it," he is quoted by Myjoyonline.com

“And on February 9, 2022, ICAO said the chip that we have in our Ghana Card has met the standard for e-passport. So, you can store information on it, they have tested it and validated it,” Augustine Blay pointed out.

Meanwhile, the Management of the Ghana Airports Company Limited (GACL) has written to all airports and airlines to allow persons holding valid Ghana Card to board flights to Ghana without the need for a visa.

A statement issued by the GACL on Saturday February 12 said, “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.”