Minister of Homeland Security Ezekiel Ching’oma says the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services plans to open three new passport printing sites to speed up clearance of 100 000 passport applications backlog.
The minister, speaking when he received the Migration Information and Data Analysis System (Midas) Mobile Border Management Unit in Lilongwe yesterday, said the new sites will be in Kasungu, Salima and Chikwawa districts.
Said Ching’oma: “We have a backlog of about 100 000 applicants and the strategy is that we will be printing this side and the supplier will also be printing because he has a big machine.
| Innocent Manda, Mana
“We are very sure that within few weeks we will clear all the backlog. New centres like Kasungu, Salima and Chikwawa will be printing passports.”
On the delays associated with passport printing services that resulted in the huge backlog, the minister, who filled out a passport application form and collected an express passport within hours on site, said an ordinary passport will now take 10 days to be issued while an express one will take a day or two.
Ching’oma justified the introduction of a new passport system, saying the e-passport has advanced security features like personalised data in the chip and is registered with International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Commenting on the Midas Mobile Border Management Unit which has been donated by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) of the United Nations, the minister said the system will improve migration data management by capturing travellers’ biodata.
IOM chief of mission in Malawi Nomagugu Ncube said the project seeks to promote safe, orderly and regular migration as a driver of security and trade.
The Midas project is funded by the World Bank under the Southern Africa Trade Connectivity Project with $4.7 million (K8.2 billion) and the mobile track donation is valued at $250 000 (about K437.7 million).
