MP demands action on passports
Blantyre City South East legislator Sameer Suleman has asked Minister of Homeland Security Ken Zikhale Ng’oma to address the passport crisis at Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services to ease inconveniences to applicants.
The Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker made the call in a supplementary question in Parliament in Lilongwe.
He said Malawi is the only country in the world that is not able to issue passport booklets to its citizens and has resorted to issue travel documents on A4 paper. He lamented that the development is happening when the minister is there.
Said Suleman: “It has never happened in the history of the country but for the first time our people are being issued passports on an A4 paper with a logo. It is happening now.”
He also claimed that some applicants were being forced to pay double the processing fee of K90 000 and wondered why people were subjected to exorbitant passport fees when the Tonse Alliance promised that the passport will be accessed at K14 000.
Speaking in an interview, Ng’oma said government is in the process of identifying a new supplier for the passport booklets and introducing electronic passports.
He said the issue of unavailability of passport books will be resolved.
This is not the first time government has assured that a new passports supplier will be contracted.
