* We cannot sit and watch when students are losing scholarship opportunities
* When patients seeking medical attention outside are failing to travel and others die
* The government must not pretend not to have seen the problems when the entourage of the First Lady failed to travel due to the same crisis
By Duncan Mlanjira
Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, George Chaponda, of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) says he “is deeply concerned about the prolonged passport crisis in the country, which continues to affect citizens despite President Lazarus Chakwera’s assurance in Parliament to resolve the issue promptly”.
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In a statement, Chaponda further said: “Why is it that after striving to obtain passports the citizens are not being accepted in other countries? We cannot sit and watch when students are losing scholarship opportunities; when patients seeking medical attention outside are failing to travel and others die.
“The government must not pretend not to have seen the problems when the entourage of the First Lady failed to travel due to the same crisis.
“I urge the President to honor his commitment and provide a clear timeline for the production and issuance of passports. The public deserves to know the cause of the delay and the measures being taken to address it.”
Leader of Opposition George Chaponda
He thus demands for:
1. immediate release of a comprehensive report on the passport crisis, including the cause and solutions;
2. a detailed plan of action to clear the backlog of applications;
3. transparency in the procurement process for passport materials and services; and
4. accountability for those responsible for the crisis.
“The opposition will continue to hold the government accountable for its promises,” Chaponda said. “We stand in solidarity with the affected citizens and demand swift action to resolve this crisis.”
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Earlier this year, President Chakwera announced in Parliament that it had been hacked by unknown cybercrime experts and were demanding a huge ransom from Government — he announced that his administration had no plans to bow down to the hackers and he asked the government machinery to solve the crisis expeditiously.
The Department of Immigration & Citizenship then announced it has successfully completed restoration of e-passport issuance system but when the public complained that the documents being produced are being rejected at the borders and airports, the Immigration denied the reports.
In a statement issued by the then Director General, Brigadier General Charles Kalumo (retired) in March, said the e-passport issuance services had resumed and printing would start gradually in Lilongwe and later on in other regions.
After some reports that the Immigration Department lost important demographic data as a result of the recent cybersecurity breach, Kalumo had assured the public that it fully recovered all data.
The restoration was reported to be successful, which was done in collaboration of ICT Association of Malawi (ICTAM) — as ordered by Chakwera to include the private sector — and a team that included IT experts from the Department of E-Government in the Ministry of Information; the National Registration Bureau (NRB) in the Ministry of Homeland Security, and the Department of Innovation and Creativity in the Office of the President & Cabinet as well as Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA).
Writing on his Facebook wall, renowned commentator of social issues, Onjezani Kenani quoted Malawi News publication of June 1, that said: “The new passport’s barcodes are failing to read when scanned in some international immigration databases, forcing those countries to reject travel requests by holders.
“Sources at the Norwegian Visa Centre in Lilongwe told Malawi News that since March this year, the centre has been facing challenges scanning the new passports and has referred all the cases to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Malawi News further said they contacted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who “confirmed receiving complaints on the matter” but the Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu told the paper that the government was “not aware of the incidents”.
Kenani posed the question: “Is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not part of ‘the government’?” to which Oscar Lemon responded that a “passport is a serious issue and the immigration is a very important department — but there is chaos there. Government has to sort out the mess there”.
Zeus Rowland responded to Lemon sentiments, saying “sadly in Malawi’s government [impacts of] a lot of things [are taken very lightly]. They don’t do due diligence when providing contracts to [suppliers].
“Even with these reports coming in, you will hear the government is sticking with the passport supplier. These people just don’t care. Sometimes, I really just wonder what goes through the minds of our leaders — each and every day we are being taken into the abyss.”
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