Minister of Homeland Security Ezekiel Ching’oma has said the new passport supplier is set to resolve all bottlenecks associated with the provision of passport services these past few years.
He said this on Friday when he presided over the eighth passing-out parade of 354 Immigration recruits at Police Training School (PTS) in Limbe.
“When this new passport system is fully rolled-out, we anticipate to be timely printing enough passports to meet the high demand for passport services and end all the long queues of applicants seeking passport services,” said Ching’oma.
He said government recognises the dynamism and complexities associated with management of migration globally; hence, championing the reforms at the department to address prevailing challenges and provide seamless services to the public.
Government signed a new $29.9 million (K52 billion) passport printing contract with Madras Security Printers Private Limited three months ago.
The contract comes almost three years after Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda cancelled a $60.8 million (about K106.3 billion) contract signed with TechnoBrain in March 2019.
Turning to the graduates, Ching’oma urged them to shine through their duties as they embark on their new careers as Immigration officers.
On his part, Secretary for Homeland Security Steven Kayuni told the recruits that their job was exceptional as it is for patriots who put the country’s interests first, and do everything possible to curb the influx of irregular migration and end all forms of transnational crimes through collaboration.
“I believe during your six months of training, you have realised that immigration duty is not only about issuance of passports but rather involves playing the key roles in the most critical issues of national security and socio-economic development of our country,” he said.
Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services acting director general Macloid Kalindang’oma said out of 354 recruits, 151 were female and 203 were male, representing 42.6 percent and 57.4 percent respectively.
Numerically, the department now has 1 101 uniformed officers against its aspiration of 2 224 officers to effectively “seal all the porous borders and curb the influx of irregular immigrants and other transnational crimes”.
During the event, 10 best performing graduating recruits and longest serving immigration officers were awarded certificates.
The department had its last pass-out parade in 2018 where 247 recruits graduated from the paramilitary training at PTS.
