Immigration halts passport printing

Malawians applying for new passports or seeking to renew expired ones will have to wait longer to get their travel documents as the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services has stopped printing passports.

Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services national public relations officer Wellington Chiponde said yesterday they are not certain as to  when they will resume processing and printing of the passports.

On Friday, the department issued a statement alerting the public that it has stopped printing and processing of passports as it is experiencing technical glitches in its system.

Among those requiring passports include those wishing to travel for medical attention, school admission, meetings, international truck drivers and Malawians returning to their country residence.

Chiponde yesterday said in the absence of  the passports, the department is issuing travel documents called Certificate of Identity to those traveling to Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Tanzania, “but for those travelling beyond these countries, they are urged to wait until we resolve these hiccups”.

He said: “We may not say with certainty as to when we will resume issuing but we are working towards fixing these technical glitches in the shortest period of time.

“The matter is receiving urgent attention and efforts to address the technical glitches are in progress.”

According to Chiponde, under normal circumstances, the department has the capacity to print 1 500 passports a day.

Some quarters fear the erratic processing and printing of the passports is a direct result of the termination of the contract with Techno Brain, which was the supplier of the Malawi passport.

However, in an interview yesterday, Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda brushed aside the assertions, saying the department has been facing passport issuance hurdles even before the termination of the Techno Brain contract.

He said: “This has nothing to do with the termination of the contract with Techno Brain, the department was struggling even before the termination of the contract. The technical glitch is not unique, it happens everywhere and we are treating it as a matter of urgency and it will be fixed soon.” 

In February this year, the department scaled down passport printing by 96 percent, leading to a loss K4 billion in government revenue.

This followed the termination of a K47.4 billion passport production supplies deal with Techno Brain.

Chiponde confirmed that the department was then producing 50 passports a day, translating to 250 passports in a week.

The Techno Brain contract’s termination came three days after the AG faulted the procurement process of the $60 million (about K47.4 billion) contract between Techno Brain and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services.