Enough of the lies, ultimatums

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

Speaking in Parliament in Lilongwe on Wednesday during the Questions to the President session, Chakwera said; “digital mercenaries” hacked into the system, forcing the department to stop printing passports.

The President went further to explain that the hackers are demanding a ransom, but as a government, they will not pay. Meanwhile, investigations are underway to trace the hackers. If it is indeed true that the system has been hacked, this is not just sad, but also a national security concern. The fact that someone can easily hack a government system is alarming, to say the least.

However, it is hard for many Malawians who have been camping at the immigration offices, some for two years, to believe and sympathise with the President. The Immigration Department has been a pain in the flesh for many years, way before even TechnoBrain showed up on our shores. Getting a passport has always been reserved for the well-connected and the monied who can palm oil immigration officials.

Early last year, I applied for passport renewal, but only got the passport in December. I counted myself lucky because I know people who applied for the passport two years ago and they are still waiting. I lost count of how many trips I made to the immigration office, before someone told me they got their passport within a week after paying K400 000. Another friend got his passport within three days after calling the high offices. Such has been the norm. Corruption has been institutionalised.

While the President must  be applauded for being bold enough to explain what is happening to the Department of Immigration, we also must not lose sight of the reasons we are in this situation.

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

Without condoning corruption, Malawians are struggling to get a passport because of hasty decisions made by the government; decisions made without putting much thought into what would be the consequences. Yes, the rotten deal with TechnoBrain needed to be terminated, but maybe government should have read the finer details in the contract before wholesomely terminating it.

This is why it is hard to believe what the President said in Parliament. The hackers’ story could be a scapegoat, but there have been lingering problems at the immigration well before the hacking issue. One can only hope that the three-week ultimatum given to the Department of Immigration will hold this time around. I have lost count of how many ultimatums have been issued since Chakwera assumed power and how many of those really work. People are getting tired of hearing nice words without action.