Chakwera speaks on passport crisis

President Lazarus Chakwera has broken his silence on the passport crisis in the country and directed Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services to find alternatives to resume printing within three weeks.

Speaking in Parliament in Lilongwe on Wednesday during Questions to the President Session, he said “digital mercenaries” hacked into the system, forcing the Immigration Department to stop printing passports.

The President said the purported “digital mercenaries” were demanding ransom from government.

He said: “I am duty bound to inform Malawians that the printing of passports has been suspended because the system at Immigration was hacked by digital mercenaries who infiltrated the system.”

The President described the hacking as a serious national security breach and said Malawi was not the first in the modern world to be a target of such cyber-attacks. However, he assured the House that “decisive steps to regain control of the situation” have been undertaken.

Said Chakwera: “As long as I am President, the government will never pay the ransom money you have demanded after hacking the system because we are not in the business of appeasing criminals with public money nor are we in the business of negotiating with those who attack our country.

“Secondly, we have opened an investigation to trace and track this hack to its source, and when we find you, you will be brought to justice and there will be no clemency or mercy.”

But civil society organisations on Wednesday faulted the President for treating the issue with laxity.

In an interview, Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives executive director Sylvester Namiwa said heads should by now have rolled at the Immigration Department.

“We expected him to reveal names of the culprits. This is a serious matter and the President should have come to Parliament with answers,” he said.

On his part, Human Rights Defenders Coalition (HRDC) chairperson Gift Trapence described the passport situation as a serious security threat to the nation which demands a stern resolve.

He said the President fell short of acknowledging the gravity of the matter, since hacking of passport printing systems is a critical national security risk.

“Government needs to respond to the question of assurance on data protection, which is at risk,” said Trapence.

Consumers Association of Malawi (Cama) executive director John Kapito vowed to take Chakwera to account over his directive that Immigration Department must deal with the situation within three weeks.

The passport production hiccups began soon after Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda cancelled the $60.8 million (about K103.3 billion) Techno Brain contract in December 2021 for alleged poor handling of the contract by the previous administration.

The President also responded to five other questions and several supplementary questions.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leader in the House Mary Navicha asked the President to explain how government was working to resolve the hunger situation in the country.

The Thyolo Thava legislator further said while the President promised that people would receive bags of maize and K150 000 for six months, there was nothing on the ground.

However, Leader of the House Richard Chimwendo Banda said the second part of the question was new as such, the President could not take it up. Speaker of Parliament Catherine Gotani Hara agreed with Chimwendo Banda.

In his response, Chakwera said government has a number of interventions in place, including intensifying irrigation farming and if need be, the government is ready to procure food from outside the country so that no one dies of hunger.

Section 89 (3) (c) of the Constitution provides that (1) during a Budget Meeting of the National Assembly, and immediately before consideration of the budget estimates, the President shall attend Parliament to respond to questions asked and raised during debate on the State of the Nation Address.

It further states that the Clerk of Parliament shall submit a record of the proceedings of debate on Sona and any written notice of questions based on the address by members, to the Office of the President and Cabinet to prepare the President’s responses, and that the business committee shall determine the date and time for the President to come and deliver responses under this rule.

Chakwera is the second President among the five multiparty era leaders to appear before Parliament to answer questions despite the law providing for Question Time for the President.

The first is Bakili Muluzi, who went to Parliament during his first term between 1994 and 1999.