By Feston Malekezo & Sam Kalimira:
Second Vice President Enock Chihana has assured Malawians that the ongoing passport crisis will be resolved in due course.
Chihana made the remarks after making an impromptu stop at the Northern Region Immigration Office in Mzuzu City Monday, when he interacted with hundreds of service seekers.
“I wanted to see the situation on the ground for myself so that when we go back, we can engage those responsible for passport printing to find a lasting solution to the issue,” Chihana said.
Currently, all passport printing is done in Lilongwe.
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Chihana disclosed that plans are at an advanced stage to decentralise service provision by installing a high-capacity passport printer in all regional offices, Mzuzu inclusive.
According to reports, the machine has already been procured, and renovations are underway at the Mzuzu office to accommodate the equipment, which is expected to, once operational, be printing about 3,000 passports daily.
Currently, the office has about 20,000 applications awaiting printing.
Recently, President Peter Mutharika announced the reintroduction of passport printing in all regions of the country.
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He said the government would procure a heavy-duty passport printer.
The government entered into a five-year $30 million contract with Indian firm Madras Security Printing System.
In the morning, Chihana engaged Nkhata Bay council officials, vendors, youth representatives, and chiefs in the district, where they discussed a number of issues.
Chihana acknowledged that several government departments had been underfunded for a long time.
Later, Chihana addressed people at Nkhata Bay Admarc Depot, where Member of Parliament for Nkhata Bay Central Symon Vuwa Kaunda expressed hope that the Democratic Progressive Party and Alliance for Democracy alliance would help spur development activities in the region.
