By Mabinty M. Kamara
Sierra Leone’s passport has been rated second in the West Africa region after the Gambia and 72 in the 2023 global passport rating index.
Sierra Leone scaled up to ten places from 83 in 2022 to 74, placing it ahead of Ghana then at 82 and now rated 76, while maintaining its place as the lead in the Mano River Union (MRU), according to the Henley Passport Index Report released last week.
Cote d’Ivoire’s passport is second in the sub-region, with a ranking of 79, followed by the Guinean passport at 80 and the Liberian passport bottom at 87.
According to the report, Sierra Leoneans could travel to 64 countries without a visa or with the option of getting a visa on arrival in 2022. This number has increased to 67 countries in 2023, according to the report released on Tuesday, July 18, 2023. In West Africa, Sierra Leone is followed by Cape Verde (75), Ghana (76), Benin (78), Burkina Faso (79), Cote d’Ivoire (79), Guinea (80), Senegal (81), Togo (81), Niger (82), Guinea Bissau (83), Mali (83), Liberia (87), and Nigeria (91).
Mauritius maintains its top position in Africa, moving five places forward to 29 in the latest ranking. Mauritius citizens can visit 148 countries visa-free in 2023, compared to 146 in 2022.
South Africa (52), Botswana (60), Namibia (64), Lesotho (65), Eswatini (67), Kenya (68), Malawi (69), Tanzania (70), Tunisia (71), and Zambia (71) are top in the African continent.
Somalia positioned 100 globally, is at the bottom of the continental Africa list, with its citizens having access to only 35 visa-free countries.
Globally, Singapore was top on the list replacing Japan; with access to 192 countries for its citizens without a visa followed by Germany, Italy, and Spain, which are positioned second, with 190 visa-free countries, each.
At the bottom of the global table is Afghanistan’s passport, which allows its holders to visit only 27 countries visa-free. It comes below Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia.
The Henley Passport Index, which is based on exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), is a global ranking, based on the freedom of travel for holders of a country’s ordinary passport. A total of 199 countries are ranked according to the number of countries their citizens can travel to without the need for a visa or where they could get a visa on arrival.
The number of countries a specific passport is allowed in without a visa is the visa-free “score”.
The 2023 report shows that the general trend over the history of the 18-year-old ranking has been towards greater travel freedom, with the average number of destinations travelers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2023, according to Henley and Partners, publisher of the report.
However, a press statement from the global passport rating body said that the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been.
Politico could not get the head of Immigration in Sierra Leone for a reaction.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leoneans including members of parliament have expressed concerns over the price of the passport, saying the one hundred dollar price according to an agreement was for an upgraded E-Passport and not the current Machine readable passport.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (24/07/23)
