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The Foreign Affairs Minister nominee has bemoaned the bad condition of the country's missions abroad.

Shirley Ayorkor Botchway said the missions are in deplorable condition and mentioned Ghana's mission in New York as one of the worse even though it is sited in a prime area.

She said the country must take particular interest in rebuilding the country's missions as they represent the dignity of the country abroad.

The minister nominee was answering questions from members of the Appointment Committee of Parliament about the Ministry she will superintend if given approval by the House.

The minister was particularly unhappy about the state of the country's missions abroad and hinted of an urgent solution to solving the problem.

The Mahama-led administration secured a $50million loan from Societe General to finance the rehabilitation of Ghana's Missions abroad.

It is unclear whether the rehabilitation will cover all missions abroad or some specific ones.

Ayorkor Botchway applauded the decision by the former administration to go for the loan to repair the country's missions abroad.

The minister nominee called for more radical steps, including a possible private transaction, that will make private entrepreneurs build and share offices in the same missions with Ghana.

She also advocated for the retention of a big portion of the Internally- Generated Funds at the Foreign Ministry, which she said will go a long way in building some of the missions abroad.

She disclosed that the new online application system would correct the delays in passport acquisition, especially with renewal for students and other in abroad.

Ayorkor Botchway said sometimes the delays are due to the mistakes on the application forms or with the documentation sent with the forms.

She admitted that the passport office is challenged when documents sent by applicants cannot be authenticated.

Answering questions on the frustrations faced by Ghanaians abroad in renewing their passport while in abroad, she said in cases where the applicants made mistakes on the forms, it was difficult to contact the applicants and correct the mistakes in good time.

Regarding the concern of some Ghanaian students studying in Cuba, who find themselves in such a situation, she explained that the delay is largely due to Ghana not having a foreign mission which issues passports in the country.

There are six missions outside Ghana which issue passports. They are the missions in Abuja in Nigeria; Johannesburg in South Africa; London in the United Kingdom (UK), New York and Washington in the USA and Berlin in Germany.

She said, unfortunately, Cuba is not among those missions so applicants have to send their forms to Ghana before they are processed and sent back to them.

She entreated Ghanaians without proper documentations abroad to reconsider their decision and return home.

Ayorkor Botchway said “things are not bad” in the country for the citizens to live in inhumane conditions in foreign countries.

Responding to a question about how the nation could protect undocumented Ghanaians, the Foreign Affairs Minister nominee said the best way out would be for the citizens to return home.

She said individual countries have their own immigration laws, adding foreign nationals found to be without documents would be deported.

She, however, suggested that the nation has to "engage countries that we know or have evidence of treating such persons in an inhumane manner."