Passport crisis: No end in sight

What started as a temporary glitch in the production of passports has turned into a full-blown crisis as desperate Malawians are left waiting in vain for the document to facilitate travel for studies, business or medical.

During a visit to the Department of Immigration and Cirizenship Services Headquarters in Blantyre on Tuesday, the place looked deserted.

However, The Nation established in separate interviews that hundreds of passport applicants, including cross-border traders, drivers and students have been negatively affected by the situation.

They are keeping their fingers crossed for a miracle as the all-important document remains elusive after the printers at the department went off over a fortnight ago.

In an interview on Tuedsay, Professional Drivers Union in Malawi vice-general secretary McDonald Chilanga said about six drivers were denied entry into Mozambique on Tuesday because authorities in that country are not recognising temporary travel documents issued due to lack of foolproof security features.

He said the situation has forced some cross-border truck drivers whose passports expired and applied for renewal to suspend their international trips.

Said Chilanga: “The situation is now getting out of hand because of these passport issues. This is affecting importation and exportation of commodities.

“We want to meet the Immigration and Ministry of Homeland as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on how best they can resolve this issue.”

Raphael Nyando, who was offered a doctor of philosophy scholarship in the international nursing programme at National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences in Taiwan, lamented that he had lost the opportunity because of the passports issue.

He said he applied and paid for a passport on April 8 2023 and was expected to report at the university last September, but up to now his passport has not been issued.

“Honestly, I am speechless because this was my only opportunity to further my studies and this will haunt me forever. This missed opportunity has psychologically affected me,” said Nyando a teacher at St. Joseph’s College of Nursing and Midwifery in Nguludi, Chiradzulu District.

In a separate interview, a woman who applied for an express passport last month, expressed fear that the system shut down could affect her trip to France to attend the Catholic Religious Sisters’ general chapter where they are expected to elect the mother general.

Immigration Department last month temporarily suspended the issuance of passports nationwide.

The department’s spokesperson Wellington Chiponde attributed the shutdown to extensive maintenance works which he said would require more time.

In an internal memo dated February 20 2024, Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services director general Charles Kalumo said the department acknowledged challenges some Malawians are facing to enter other countries without passports.

However, he did not indicate when Malawians should expect the passport situation to normalise.

Kalumo, Chiponde and Minister of Information and Digitisation Moses Kunkuyu were not available for comment as we went to print at 5pm on Tuesday.

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

Techno Brain is demanding $1.7 million (about K2.8 billion) from the government. They signed the contract in March 2019 during the then governing Democratic Progressive Party administration.

Under the deal, Techno Brain Global FZE of the United Arab Emirates was tasked to upgrade the country’s passport issuance system.

But documentation at the time showed that Techno Brain was sourcing the passport booklets from Vienna,  Austria where the average unit cost of each booklet was $9.13 (about K15 521) and from Singapore where the cost was around $1.73 (about K2 941 at the current rate).

Rough calculations show that Techno Brain was making a profit of between $66.87 (about K113 679) and $74.27(about K126 259) per passport booklet supplied to Malawi.

Nyirenda was also not available for comment as his phones went unanswered on several attempts.