Immigration gets passport books, consumables

The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services says it has taken delivery of passport books and other consumables which it hopes will end the passport printing crisis.

Immigration national spokesperson Wellington Chiponde confirmed in an interview yesterday that the consignment arrived through Kamuzu International Airport, but could not give details of the volumes.

He said the consumables were part of a consignment that was expected before the termination of the contract with the previous supplier, Techno Brain Limited.

But Chiponde said the new stock will help clear the backlog accumulated since the termination of the contract with Techno Brain last year as well as improve on daily production capacity.

He said: “The passport contract with Techno Brain Limited remains terminated, but this past weekend the department received passport consumables that were supposed to be supplied before the contract was terminated.

“These consumables will help our department to meet the current demand for passports and clear the accumulated passport backlog in our system.”

Chiponde said the process of identifying the new passport contractor was at an advanced stage and that in liaison with relevant stakeholders, the department was doing everything possible to expedite the whole process.

The scaling down of passport printing by 96 percent cost government K4 billion in non-tax revenue. During the crisis, the department was issuing less than 100 passports a day.

Commenting earlier, both governance analysts Sheriff Kaisi and Vincent Kondowe asked authorities to expedite the process of hiring a new passport contractor, saying the delay is likely to cause havoc and present a breeding ground for corruption.

Kondowe urged the department to put in place mechanisms that will ensure that proper procedures are followed when offering the next contract.

In October last year, Attorney General (AG) Thabo Chakaka Nyirenda terminated a multi-billion kwacha passport contract government had signed with Techno Brain in March 2019.

The termination came three days after the AG faulted the procurement process of the $60 million (about K47.4 billion) contract between Techno Brain and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services.

Nyirenda said the contract was fraught with irregularities.

Meanwhile, clearing of outstanding passport applications is expected to start on Friday March 25, according to a public notice from the department.