Immigration collects K3.5bn revenue in 2014

The Immigration Department collected K3.5 billion revenue in 2014, a figure not far from what the department collected last year, chief immigration officer Hudson Mankhwala has said.

Mankhwala said in Blantyre on Saturday that year has been fruitful to the department thanks to government’s support.

“I can happily say here that 2014 was very fruitful to Immigration Department since we have managed to achieve what we were expected to do.

“The department collected K3.5 billion through its services it offers to the public. However, we are discussing with government to give additional funding to our department as doing so could also raise the revenue in the coming year,” he said.

Mankhwala said the department receives K873 million per year, but it seems the allocation is not fully catering for the needs, adding that they need about K1.3 billion to function well.

He said while the department has registered some successes, there are also challenges it faced in the year.

Mankhwala cited the continued manual operations in other immigration services such as the issuance of permits and visas, inadequate funding, housing for officers and operational vehicles as some of the challenges.

He said in the coming year, the department is planning to recruit 500 additional officers while in the subsequent three years, the department is planning to recruit 1 500 officers to beef up its operations.

On the reforms being taken by government, Mankhwala said it has helped the department a lot by, among others, opening a passport printing office in Lilongwe and next year, the department is expected to open another one in Mzuzu.

In the year, the department raised fees for a number of services, such passports, a development that riled consumers.