Exploitation or Corruption? Passport Price Disparity Shortchanging Diaspora Liberians
12/05/07 - Rodney D. Sieh, rsieh
Liberians in the Diaspora are being charged $US250 for passports valued at US$20 in Monrovia
Washinton, DC-At $US250 a book, many Liberians residing in the United States have been coughing out hundreds of dollars to obtain new passports, since a new price system took effect in May 2005. However, a FrontPageAfrica investigation has uncovered that the new passport price never received approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the Liberian government.
However after the embassy was reopened, Ambassador Charles Minor reportedly expressed concerns that the Washington office was not receiving financial support from Liberia and raised the price to $US250. But sources say the price change did not win the approval of the Foreign Ministry and the Minister at the time, Thomas Yahya Nimley who was at loggerheads with the ambassador at the time. Since the price changed, a little over 15 to 20 passports are reportedly processed by the embassy in D.C. on a monthly basis.
Several attempts to reach Minor over the past few days have been unsuccessful. But sources at the embassy attribute the high cost of obtaining a passport to the cost of paying DHL to mail the applications.
Despite the explanation, sources tell FPA that while $250 is charged for the passports, only US$20 have been sent to Monrovia since the price change came into place. More recently, FPA gathered that the embassy sent $100 per passport on a recent consignment, but $80 of the money for each passport was reportedly returned to officials at the embassy with the passport director, Mary Broh, saying she did not know what to do with the extra money because each passport cost $20, which was never reimbursed to the applicants. "Usually when applicants pay the $250, the embassy sends $100 to Monrovia to facilitate the passport applications or as processing fees. The embassy contends that the extra $100 was for processing fees," an embassy source told FPA recently. FPA has also learned that most times the applications are sent to Monrovia when visiting Liberian government officials are returning and not by DHL.
Who's receiving the US$80 per passport in Monrovia?
In the wake of the the discrepancies, some applicants are now concerned about who was receiving the $100 per passport that was sent to the Passport section in Monrovia, and for what purpose were they receiving $100 per passport instead of $20. Also, eyebrows are being raised and many are wondering why only applicants in America are being required to pay processing fee which is not in the price structure by the Foreign Ministry.
FPA has further learnt that passport applications from the Embassy were sent directly to Counselor krubo Kollie, Deputy foreign Minister, who was acting as Head of the Passport Section during the several months of transition after Yvonne Stewart’ removal and the appointment of Broh as Director of Passport.
Deputy Minister Kollie is said to be the mastermind behind the request for the Passport processing fee of extra $80 beyond the regular price through the Embassy. Calls placed to Kollie's Monrovia number were not returned Monday. But sources confirmed to FPA that Deputy Minister Kollie while serving as passport Section Head concluded the deal with embassy officials to send $100 per passport to Monrovia to her office during her visit to the United States sometime last year. She is said to have even at that time taken several applications for processing in Monrovia at the $100 per passport rate.
How the price was raised
As a solution to the Aaron Kollie and Abdullah Dunbar Saga over the Charge d’affaires function at the Liberian Embassy in Washington DC in 2004, Ambassador Prince Porte was sent from Monrovia to take over affairs at the Embassy pending the appointment of an Ambassador. In late 2004 after the inauguration of Transitional Chairman Charles Gyude Bryant, Bryant immediately nominated Minor as Ambassador to the U.S. After Ambassador Minor took over at the Embassy, he said he requested for an audit of the Embassy’s books. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs dispatched the then Auditor-General, Francis Johnson and his deputy, along with the then Inspector General of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Harry Tah Freeman. It is not quite clear if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was conducting the audit as a routine program, or it was a response to Minor’s request
But as the audit began, Inspector General Freeman and Minor had few frictions when Minor unilaterally ordered the closure of the Consular section of the Embassy. Minor and the then Foreign Minister were at logger heads because Minor was only taking instructions from Chairman Bryant. The audit was conducted amidst all of these conflicts, with the Consular section remaining closed. At the end of the audit, while the report was pending, Minor reopened the Consular section at the Embassy and made several changes including personnel and fees for services. Christopher Nippy, First Secretary for political Affairs was assigned Consular duties, and the fees for every service including fees for new Liberian Passport and old passport renewal were also increased by over 200%.
Ambassador Charles Minor At the Consular office in New York, the prices are pretty much the same, according to Jeff Dwana, head of the Consulate. But Dwana says the consulate only follows what is implemented by the Washington office. “We do exactly what Washington does. We don’t make rules on our own. Washington takes the initiative and we follow suit. We don’t make changes on our own.”
DHL cost factors in price, official says
“For one thing,” Dwana says, “passports have to be obtained from Monrovia applicants have to also cover the cost of mailing the application to Monrovia. “When we came in, the rules and price structure were already there. Everything was in place. We haven’t changed anything. Now that things are getting flexible, we are also thinking about how to review the prices. But all those prices were all laid down before we even came here,” Dwana says.
Applications for passports have heightened in recent times since the government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs abolished the issuance of laissez passé for travel to Liberians, especially those traveling to neighboring African nations. The travel documents have been replaced by a new ECOWAS passport which contains security features including captured and the storage of biometric fingerprints of all applicants.
The Foreign Ministry is hoping that the new-look travel documents meet the fullest international standards with all the security features that will minimize the chances of the abuse of passports as many countries have experienced.
A non refundable fee of US$3.00 will be paid at the International Bank in Monrovia for an application; however, applicants will not be required to submit passport sized photographs as their photographs will be taken at the Passport Section. After reviewing and approving the application, all applicants will be required to pay US$20 as the fee for the new passport to be collected in 48 hours.
“To obtain the ordinary Liberian passport costs twenty United States dollars (US$20), and is a right to all bona fide Liberians. The process of acquiring the passport involves writing a letter applying for a passport, obtaining and completing a passport application form, which is free of charge, two passport size photos, and appearing for an interview for the purpose of establishing the veracity of information provided on the application form,” the release stated.
PASSPORT
FEE
New Liberian Passport
$250.00
Renewal of Liberian Passport
$75.00
Birth Affidavit
$75.00
Travel Document
$75.00
Notorial Certificate (Corporation)
150.00
Notorial Certificate (Private)
$75.00
Traditional Marriage Certificate
$75.00
Renewal of Liberian Driver's License
$75.00
Mortuary Certificate
$100.00
In order to establish the applicant’s Liberian citizenship, some documentary evidence may be required in the form of a birth certificate and or a court affidavit. Once an applicant’s form is approved after a review of the form and interview, a payment slip is issued to the applicant who then proceeds to the Ministry of Finance to make payment of twenty United States dollars (US$20) only into Government’s revenue. Following the show of payment receipt, the applicant is listed along with hundreds of other applicants. The list is then submitted to the Finance Ministry which raises a voucher and a check issued to the LBDI Bank for the release of the equivalent number of passport booklets for the applicants.
Passport chief: Matter under review
Mary Broh, who heads the revamp passport division, told FPA recently that her office was aware of the controversy regarding the price discrepancy but could not go into details because the matter is under review.
'A BIT TOO HIGH'
“They (the embassy in D.C.) are saying that if we have to DHL the passport requests out to them, then we have to charge that much. But I still feel that that amount is a bit too high."
Mary Broh, Director of Passports, RL
“Regarding the passport issue, we are in the process of reviewing everything now because we have a new foreign minister and until the Inspector General completes his review and audit of the various missions, we can’t really comment on it at this time,” Broh told FPA.
“They (the embassy in D.C.) are saying that if we have to DHL the passport requests out to them, then we have to charge that much. But I still feel that that amount is a bit too high. The minister and other people will have to make a decision. I believe she is currently in consultation with all of the mission heads to find out what’s going on and have them justify that amount.”
While Foreign Ministry officials have been tightlipped on the issue, some officials suggest that the different economic situations between Liberians in the U.S. and those in Monrovia could also be a factor.
In a bid to beat the $US250 price tag, many Liberians in the Diaspora have been sending the $US20 to relatives in Monrovia to purchase the passports, but they still have to pay for DHL delivery or send the processed passports by returning friends and relatives. Even with that, Broh says her office has been very vigilant in conducting interviews with applicants by phone to verify whether or not they are Liberians.
But despite the clampdown, many with older versions of Liberian passports continue to fall through the cracks. More recently, authorities at the Ghana Immigration Service at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra arrested eight persons, dressed like Pastors and traveling with fake Liberian passports. The suspects, all Nigerians, were arrested in the Departure Hall at the Kotoka International Airport in Accra when their passports were detected to be fake. They were identified as Wilson Raymond, Philip Anoka, Nsube Eneani, Richard Ifiany, Avengo Eresama, Benefict Nonso, Regina Chukwu and Donald Okafo. Assistant Superintendent of the GIS said initial investigations by the Fraud Unit revealed that the suspects were Nigerians and not Liberians as indicated in their passports. Ghanaian authorities detected that the bio-data pages of their passports had been forged and fake stamp impressions endorsed in the visa pages.
