16 rebuffed over ‘new passport’

Norway has refused to grant visas to about 16 Malawians who were set to travel to the European country on the basis that chips on their newly obtained passports failed to read during processing.

The 16 were expected to travel to Norway between June and July this year, information The Nation has sourced shows.

In a letter the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa issued to one of the visa applicants, which The Nation has seen, the embassy noted that an unreadable passport poses challenges when crossing borders.

Reads the letter in part: “The Royal Norwegian Embassy has received several [Malawi] passports issued between March, April and May 2024 in which the chips are unreadable. Your passport is one of them, and we would like to make you aware that this may present challenges at border crossing.

“The embassy, therefore, recommends that you apply for a new passport with your authorities. If you choose to travel with this passport, kindly note that this will be at your own risk.”

The case of the 16 reflects the challenges some Malawians who recently obtained their passports have been facing during travel.

Two weeks ago, seven other Malawians were also reported to have been denied entry into South Africa at Beitbridge due to similar problems relating to readability of the passports.

Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services spokesperson Wellington Chiponde yesterday asked for more time to consult.

But during a meeting in Lilongwe last week Tuesday, Ministry of Homeland Security Principal Secretary Steve Kayuni urged the Immigration Department to quickly address all the bottlenecks associated with passport service delivery.

He said the department’s technocrats were better-placed to provide solutions to the challenges affecting service delivery for all Immigration services, saying they have the requisite experience and capabilities of managing migration issues.

Commenting on the matter, Concerned Citizens of Malawi leader Edward Kambanje, who led protests demanding the removal of now fired Immigration director general Charles Kalumo, said it was sad that Malawians continue to face passport challenges.

He asked government to consider reinstatement of the Techno Brain contract to address the current passport issues as they look for other permanent solutions.

“We believe that the problem we are currently facing is because of the Techno Brain contract termination. So as we are waiting for the permanent measures, let them [Techno Brain] come back and continue their work. We believe that E-Tech has no capacity to do such a crucial task,” said Kambanje.

In April this year, Malawi engaged local information and communications technology (ICT) firm E-Tech Systems as the new passport system supplier, taking over from Techno Brain.

Malawi has experienced passport issuance challenges ever since Attorney General Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda in December 2021 cancelled a $60.8 million (about K103.3 billion) Techno Brain contract due to alleged poor handling of the contract by the former governing Democratic Progressive Party administration.

Techno Brain signed the contract in March 2019.