Ghana Union Stor-Stockholm: Embassy officials meet Ghanaian leaders

Two officials of the Ghana embassy in Denmark, Mr Peter Opata (Counsellor) and his assistant, Mr Essien, met leaders of the Ghanaian community over the weekend at Kista. Present at the meeting were leaders of the Ghana Union in Stockholm, representatives from the Ga-Adagme Union, Friendship Association and the local chapter of the NDC. Mr Opata told the gathering that the ambassador herself, Hajia Fati Jawula, was still waiting for the clearance from the Swedish authorities to enable her visit Stockholm to present her credentials after which she would be able to meet us. The meeting dealt principally with consular issues and Mr Opata also fielded questions from the gathering on issues and problems affecting the Ghanaian community.

Mr Opata said the staff at the embassy had been busy in the past few months due, among other things, to the visit of the President to the climate conference at the end of last year and the movement to new permanent quarters. The embassy was also hit with the sudden death of the number two person, Mrs Joyce Awotwi.

He informed the leaders that the government has successfully made an appeal to ICAO to extend the date of acceptability of non-biometric Ghanaian passports. This means that the old passports will still be valid for international travel. But by November 2015 all Ghanaian passport holders should have biometric passports. There are now three types of Ghanaian passports. The handwritten one, machine written one and the new biometric ones. He explained that the new passports are not yet being issued outside Ghana. As at now, it is only Accra that has the facilities to issue such passports but plans were far advanced to open five other centres at Koforidua, Sunyani, Sekondi-Takoradi, Tamale, and Ho by June this year. He said there were plans to issue the new passports outside Ghana in the future. He explained further that the new passports were secure documents which could not be forged and that applicants needed to be present themselves and have their photos taken at the spot. Holder’s iris colours and finger prints would be made into a barcode embossed in the passport that can only be read by a machine.

He informed the leaders that new increased consular fees, approved by parliament as part of its revenue increasing measures, are now in effect. The new fees, effective from the 12th of April, can be viewed at the embassy’s webpage which is now regularly updated. (Click here to see the new rates) This has also made contact with the embassy easier and asked the representatives to make use of the embassy’s email services since mails were answered promptly.

A lot of questions were asked concerning the issue of dual citizenship. Dual citizens can hold a Ghanaian passport and the passport of the second nation but it is important to apply for and receive the identity card from Ghana that shows that one is a dual citizen. Travellers to Ghana without the identity card would not be treated as Ghanaians at the port of entry.

Many questions were asked. On the issue of sending cash to the embassy in payment of services when a post giro could be opened, Mr Opata explained that they could not do anything without the approval of the Ministry at home. He said money orders were acceptable and the fact that cash was sent was not the official embassy policy and that this was due to people thinking it was the easiest way to pay for transactions. Other questions raised ranged from the music on the embassy’s answering machine through the lack of prompt response to enquiries and the rude attitude of embassy staff to people who ring to make enquiries. Mr Opata took his time to answer the questions explaining the situation under which work at the embassy was undertaken.