The Upper East Regional Minister, Donatus Akamugri Atanga on Thursday inspected the newly established temporary passport office situated within the premises of the Ghana Commercial Bank in Bolgatanga. He was accompanied by the Acting Chief Director of the Regional Coordinating Council, Alhaji Mohammed Issahaku.
Together, they toured the facility to assess the progress of work ahead of its official opening. The minister expressed satisfaction with the level of progress made so far. He noted that the absence of a passport office in the region has long been a challenge for residents, forcing them to travel to the Upper West or Northern Region to acquire passports, a situation that particularly affects Hajj pilgrims and other travelers.
He emphasized the importance of the facility, adding that residents will be greatly relieved once the office is operationalized, hopefully within the coming week.
“What we are now interested in doing is that I had engaged the Minister for Foreign Affairs earlier, and he indicated that if we get any fittings of office, they can come and commission and then start the services here. The agenda of the NDC government in resetting Ghana is of the view that they want to make sure that by the close of this year, all regions should have a passport office. That is why the people of Upper East thought that if we want to waste time to complete the main one, we will have an issue. So, that’s why we decided to improvise this temporary office for them”, he stated.
The idea to open a temporary passport office became necessary after the construction of the original passport office came to a stalled for over a year now. It was against the backdrop that the Alagumgube Group, natives of Bolgatanga residing in New Jersey, mobilized resources to rehabilitate an existing structure belonging to the Ghana Commercial Bank for use as a temporary passport office.
Founder and chairman of the Alagumgube Group, Gabriel Agambila thanked all people who contributed to the establishment of the passport office.
A1Radioonline.com|101.1Mhz|Joshua Asaah|Bolgatanga
