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Immigration corrupt officer still working

The passport that was corruptly obtained
The passport that was corruptly obtained

We can report that the Immigration officer, whom our investigations revealed that he demanded a bribe from us to process a passport, is still working at the Immigration Department’s headquarters in Blantyre.

In our last week’s edition, we carried a story in which we revealed how the officer, Philip Joe, demanded a bribe of K15 000 for quick processing of a passport.

Our team that investigated the story for a month, duly paid the amount with an accompanying copy of the receipt.

In an exclusive interview with Weekend Nation on Monday this week, Chief Immigration Officer Dr Hudson Mankhwala stressed that they will not protect anybody if their investigations prove the alleged corruption practices.

While admitting that the officer is still working, Mankhwala said that internal investigations into the matter are already underway, as such, a decision on the officer will be made afterwards.

“As a department we have already engaged in our own internal investigation on the matter to get to root of the issue. I want to report here that should anything point to this individual like any other, we will not hide anybody. That is the position we have taken and we are into extensive investigations on the matter. We feel wounded just as you are,” he said.

Mankhwala—whose department has just adjusted upwards the cost of processing passport by 320 percent—claimed that the department views passports as a luxury, not a necessity, and as such the adjustments will not affect average Malawians.

“Usage of a passport as an ID is far secondary because even when you look at statistics a number of Malawians with a passport today is less than a million. So if Malawians were to be identified by passports, the majority would not even have the opportunity,” he said.

Mankhwala, however, refused to comment on why his department has not adjusted upwards the cost of getting work permits and other related fees for foreigners.

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