By Brenda Kayo:
On a sunny morning in Lilongwe Monday, the situation turned murky for Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services officials as service seekers turned on them and demanded that passports they have been craving be printed there and then.
This was the antithesis of the hope that the department ignited just seven days before— on March 12 2024— when Immigration chief Charles Kalumo announced that they had taken back the system from ‘hackers’ and that passport issuance would resume, first in Lilongwe before being scaled up to other cities where the department has offices.
However, the passports have been nowhere to be seen, a development that riled service seekers who thronged Immigration’s Lilongwe office seeking no excuses but passports Monday.
While some people were demanding that they get the passports they applied for, others were demanding that they get back part of the K90,000 they paid before the government announced last week that the cost for an ordinary passport would be K50,000.
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Yet another group of service seekers demanded that they be served faster than those that are applying for the travel document now, a preposition Immigration officials did not agree to.
Instead, one Immigration official was heard saying: “Please start the passport application process all over again. And, again, we cannot guarantee that you will get back K40,000 from the K90,000 you paid because that was the real cost of the passport then.”
This did not please passport applicants and, in the crossfire of words that ensued, no one could hear the other.
One of the service seekers told The Daily Times that is it surprising that the department is telling people to restart the process.
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“Why should we start the process all over again when Immigration officials told us that the system had been restored? This is unfair,” the service seeker, who pleaded for anonymity for fear of reprisals, said.
Another service seeker said she did not want a reimbursement of part of the money she paid; but, rather, she wants to have the passport she applied for in her hands.
“All I want is a passport. I do not want trouble,” she said.
Meanwhile, The Daily Times has learned that when the department announced that the system had been restored and that it would start passport issuance with Lilongwe, some people who have been referred abroad for medical help rushed to the capital city.
However, some of them said they are yet to be assisted.
A day before the expiry of the 21-day ultimatum which President Lazarus Chakwera gave the department to resume the issuance of passports in the country, the department announced that it had completed the restoration of the e-passport issuance system.
On February 21 2024, while addressing Parliament during a question-and-answer session, Chakwera said digital “mercenaries” had hacked the system and ordered the authorities to find a long-term solution to the problem within three weeks.
And, through a statement released on March 12 2024, Kalumo said restoration of the system meant the issuance of passports had resumed.
“The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services wishes to notify the general public that the work of restoring the e-Passport Issuance System has been completed. This development means that the department’s e-passport issuance services have resumed and printing of passports will start gradually in Lilongwe this week and later on in the other regions,” it reads.
He further disclosed that the government had reduced the e-passport fee by 50 percent for local Malawians.
“Government has reduced the e-passport fee…for local Malawians, from K90,000 to K50,000 for ordinary passports with a waiting processing time of 10 days when the system is fully calibrated and operating optimally.
“The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services would like to thank all concerned Malawians for their patience during the time the E-Passport Issuance System was being fixed by a team of local experts from various entities who worked around the clock to complete the task within the timeframe set by His Excellency the President,” the statement reads.
However, Consumers Association of Malawi Executive Director John Kapito said at the time that it was too early for Malawians to start celebrating.
“We will be able to measure their ability once they start implementing what they have said. We have heard about these things before and, in most cases, we have been fed lies.
“What people want is action and not words. People want the department to start printing passports and, then, they [people] will be happy. That is why I am saying that, for now, let us wait and see what happens,” Kapito said.
And, yesterday in Lilongwe, most service seekers seemed to agree with him.
