Minister for Foreign Affairs Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has disclosed that 623 Ghanaians affected by the June 29 floods have qualified for the government’s free passport replacement scheme.
The intervention, introduced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was designed to ease the financial burden on flood victims whose passports were damaged or lost during the disaster.
Addressing a press briefing on Monday, July 27, Ablakwa said the ministry received 705 applications before the July 17 deadline for the replacement of passports affected by the floods.
He explained that after verification by the Passport Office, 623 applicants were found to have held valid passports at the time of the floods and therefore qualified for the intervention, while 82 applications were rejected because the passports had expired before the disaster.
“The scheme covers only valid passports and is for good reason. We do not want others who are not really victims of the floods to take advantage of this to abuse our modest humanitarian effort. The initiative announced on July 3, 2026 was introduced to ease the financial burden of affected citizens and ensure that this vital document, passports which may have been lost or damaged, did not disrupt employment, education, medical travel or other legitimate international engagements,” he said.
He added that the Passport Office has so far processed and printed 200 replacement passports, with 155 already collected by their owners, while 45 remain available for collection by verified applicants.
Ablakwa affirmed the Ministry’s commitment to process the remaining eligible applications in batches and notify successful applicants when their replacement passports are ready.
The intervention forms part of government’s broader response to support persons affected by the June 29 floods, which caused significant damage to properties and disrupted livelihoods in several parts of the country.
