E-Passport may not not replace paper passport – Moses Baiden

Executive Chairman of the Margins Group, Moses Baiden, says the Ghana card will not replace the paper passports following the announcement by Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia that the Ghana card is to be recognized as an electronic passport in 197 countries by 2022.

Mr Baiden, whose company is responsible for developing the Ghana card in partnership with the National Identification Authority, NIA, said the Ghana Card and the paper passports will be linked together, adding that any holder of both IDs effectively has two passports.

”At the beginning of the design of the Ghana Card which is produced by us in Ghana it was decided that the Ghana Card is combined with the ECOWAS Card to make it a travel document. I think this is a significant milestone for Ghana…..

On the issue of whether the Ghana card will replace the paper passports,  he said ” the E-PASSPORT will not replace the paper Passport.

The paper Passport also has a chip in the cover. Ghana is yet to issue a paper E-PASSPORT but when that is done, the same International Civil Aviation Organization, ICAO Outlet E-PASSPORT will also be in the paper passport and the two will be linked together so basically every Ghanaian will have 2 passports.

One is the Ghana Card passport which is valid for travels within ECOWAS and the other is the International Passport which is the paper passport ”, according to Mr. Baiden.