By Isaac Salima & Yohane Symon
The contract between the Malawi Government and e-passport supplier E-Tech Systems has finally come to an end.
It expired at the end of November.
This follows the expiry of a three-month extension period that the Malawi Government signed with the firm.
The Government of Malawi extended its contract with E-Tech for an additional three months from August this year.
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The initial six-month contract period ended in August but the government extended it by three more months to have an opportunity to look for a new supplier.
Director General at the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) Eddingtone Chilapondwa said they only cleared a bidding contract for the new supplier of e-passports.
“They flouted a tender and I am sure they [Ministry of Homeland Security] have closed it and they are doing evaluation.
“However, they are in a better place to give you details because they have not submitted a file to me [on successful bidders] for a review,” he said.
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Principal Secretary for Homeland Security Steven Kayuni did not respond to our calls, let alone to our questionnaire, by the time we went to bed yesterday.
But Kayuni recently told The Daily Times that the government was in the thick of procurement processes to establish a long-term solution for passport issuance in the country.
Kayuni added that the extension of the contract with E-Tech was part of the government’s strategy to bridge the gap between temporary fixes and a more sustainable system.
“There is no change in any way. Temporary solutions and permanent solutions were always part of the strategy. Nothing has changed in that process.
“The procurement process is still underway and the government has granted a three-month extension to E-Tech while these processes continue under the guidelines of the PPDA,” Kayuni said.
Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services spokesperson Wellingtone Chiponde promised to revert to us when asked about who is supplying e-passports now.
The Ministry of Homeland Security recently assured service seekers that passport services would not be interrupted in the process of identifying a new dealer.
E-Tech was identified to replace Techno Brain Limited, whose contract was terminated.
This also followed the suspension of passport printing services across the country after the system was allegedly hacked.
In another development, Homeland Security Minister Ken Zikhale Ng’oma said he is optimistic that challenges which the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services faced in 2024 will not be there in 2025.
He said this is because the department’s leadership has put in place sound measures aimed at improving and securing the passport issuance system.
He said this in Mangochi District on the sidelines of an event where he presided over Director General (DG)’s Trophy, which the department organised as a teambuilding measure for members of staff.
“I would like to congratulate the two commissioners [who are] leading the Immigration [Department] and their management for bracing the challenges that characterised service delivery at the department.
“I encourage them to build on the current momentum and improve services further to ensure that Malawians are accessing services at the department with ease,” he said.
Zikhale Ng’oma pledged that the Ministry of Homeland Security would provide a conducive and relevant political will to ensure that services at the department were not affected again in future.
In his remarks, Commissioner for Immigration responsible for Administration Vivian Kasambo said the department was happy to have resumed the team building activities through the DG’s trophy after a five-year break.
“This is solely aimed at giving our officers a chance to interact and share experiences relating to their work so that they can improve their performances when they go back to work.
“We engaged sponsors such as Standard Bank, Old Mutual, among others, who assisted us with funds to enable us to hold this event,” he said.
Kasambo further challenged Immigration officers to be professional and avoid indulging in corruption when delivering their duties.
