Malawians are not even half-way through 2024 but it has been a year of problem-after-problem at the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services, which was supposed to be an epitome of peace. And, as ISAAC SALIMA writes, there seems to be no end in sight to the problems.
Still reeling from the hacking of its passports issuance system earlier this year, the storming of some of its staff to Ministry of Homeland Security offices in Lilongwe this month, to the fuming of lawmakers over service delivery at the public agency, there was no missing the fact that there is more trouble to come from the department Thursday.
This is because after getting intelligence reports, to the effect that Immigration staff would be holding protests at their offices in Blantyre Thursday, Malawi Police Service officers forgot, for once, that they train alongside Immigration recruits at Limbe Police Training and other training institutions and stood ready to quell whatever the officers had up their sleeve.
This meant the department’s circus took another turn Thursday.
When the Friday Shaker crew visited the offices, it found fully armed police officers.
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Inside sources at the department told us that they planned to protest because they had information that some senior officers would receive letters of dismissal from their bosses, such that they stood ready to protest the decision.
“About 40 senior officers have been on suspension for months now. So we got information that some of them would receive letters of dismissal. Some of the employees vowed that they would not allow the officers to be dismissed and that they would protest the decision.
“We were then surprised to see police officers invading our premises today [yesterday] morning,” an employee, who opted for anonymity, said.
This is happening when the Immigration headquarters is only issuing travel documents to countries such as Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
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When contacted, Southern Region police spokesperson Joseph Sauka confirmed that officers were patrolling the office based on intelligence they received.
“We got intelligence [reports] and, so, our officers are currently patrolling the place,” he said.
On his part, Immigration national spokesperson Wellington Chiponda referred us back to the police.
On Monday, some senior officers stormed the Ministry of Homeland Security offices, where they protested alleged “poor” treatment at the hands of the department’s leadership.
The employees are said to have spent over six hours at the ministry offices in Lilongwe and representative of the employees, Charles Chisi, said they wanted the leadership at the department to be changed.
“We have put forward our concerns to the PS [Principal Secretary]. If the demand is not met, we are going to down tools,” Chisi said.
PS for administration in the Homeland Security Ministry Erica Maganga did not grant reporters an interview after the meeting.
