Mumuni Presents Scorecard

Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration yesterday presented the scorecard of his stewardship, pointing especially at the success of the biometric passport novelty which he said has enabled the government to meet the demands of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Speaking to the media during one of the 'Meet The Press' series yesterday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Conference Room, he said the biometric passports have, as he put it 'enabled the Ministry improve the security and integrity of the Ghanaian passport and enhance service delivery to the public by reducing the time it took to process the passport.'

Separate regional passport application centres, he said, have been commissioned in Tamale, Kumasi, Sunyani, Takoradi, Ho and Accra to decentralize the application process.

Besides the foregone, he said, selected missions abroad have been provided with the standard list of equipment required for them to process biometric passports for procurement and subsequent installation to enable them to commence issuance of the biometric travel documents to Ghanaians resident abroad.

On the issue of good neighbourliness and integration, he recalled the post-election stalemate in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana's reaction.

Ghana's decision not to send troops, he said 'was misconstrued by sections of the media as breaking the ranks of ECOWAS.'

The ministry, he went on, had to go to great lengths to clarify the issue and prevent further misrepresentation of Ghana's position.

Happily, he said, peace has returned to that country and referred to the positive remarks made by President Alassane Ouattara during the World Affairs Briefing at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington DC, USA.

He said the Foreign Affairs Ministry, in its bid to ensure good neighbourliness with its bordering countries, undertook a mission to Burkina Faso to convey President Mills' concerns about the political developments in that country which did not augur well for peace and security. The message, he went on, served to, as he put it, encourage President Blaise Campaore to remain committed to his promise to institute democratic reforms and implement an inclusive electoral process.

Ghana, he said, continues to play its part in the collective effort by the African Union (AU) to promote peace, stability and economic development.

'The ministry, in consultation with the Ghana Embassy in Addis Ababa, participated in the deliberations of the AU, including the formal and informal meetings of the Permanent Representatives Committee and the Council of Ministers,' he said.

Turning to economic diplomacy, he said the ministry's collaboration with other MDAs achieved the national objective of diversifying and expanding the export base of the economy by actively seeking markets for Ghanaian products abroad while taking full advantage of preferential arrangements and the advantages that could accrue from multilateral trade agreements.'

The ministry, he revealed, articulated the country's views at major international fora and participated in the deliberations of multilateral institutions seeking solutions to the challenges confronting international peace, stability and development.

By A.R. Gomda, Jamila Akweley Okerchiri