Some applicants at the Greater Accra Regional passport office say activities of middlemen also known as ‘goro boys’ are frustrating the passport acquisition process.
According to these applicants, the goro boys established some relation with officials at the office, and use that connection to take money from prospective applicants to allegedly bribe the officials. These applicants get their passport without joining any queue or going through any hustle like the others.
One of the applicants, who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of being victimized, poured out his frustrations to 3FM.
‘For the past three weeks I have been trooping there to submit my passport form but these Goro boys have been fixing people in front of us. Everyday my number keeps increasing from 57 to over a hundred in the queue and I always go back home not having the chance to be attended to,’’ he claimed.
He further claimed, ‘‘they liaise with the police and I saw them giving monies to the police. The police there even know me as someone who comes there regularly. I’m tired, so I have decided not to go back there again’’.
Although all efforts to get in touch with officials at the passport office have proved futile, its director Mr. Alexander Grant Ntrakwah has previously denied any dealings with the goro boys by its officers at the passport office.
The Greater Accra regional passport office has in recent times come under intense pressure and criticisms from the general public on the poor service rendered to applicants.
Source: 3FM/tv3network.com