Ranking Member of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Samuel A. Jinapor, has strongly refuted recent claims by the current administration that the rollout of chip-embedded biometric passports is a new initiative. According to Jinapor, this achievement was fully developed, financed, and implemented under the former Akufo-Addo government, and he has warned against attempts to misrepresent the origins of the project.
In a statement released on May 6, 2025, Jinapor clarified that the entire infrastructure for the new passport system, including policy formulation, contract execution, and logistical delivery, was completed before the change of government on January 7, 2025.
“Every essential aspect of the chip-embedded passport programme was meticulously completed by the Akufo-Addo government before it was handed over, including compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) 2013 TRIP Strategy,” Jinapor asserted.
He explained that the initiative began in 2017 as part of a broader digitalisation agenda, with the selection of 25th Century Technology Limited and Buck Press Limited to form Biometric Travel Solutions Limited, a joint venture tasked with executing the project under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.
“This PPP model ensured that Ghana avoided significant financial exposure, making the project a landmark achievement in public procurement,” he noted, adding that 50,000 biometric passport booklets were already produced and 200,000 more were on order by the time of the official launch in December 2024.
Jinapor concluded his statement by urging the current administration to focus on effective distribution rather than claiming undue credit for a project that had already been fully developed and implemented before the transition.
