LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-The country’s civil rights group Centre for Democracy and Economic Development Initiatives (CDEDI) is demanding President Lazarus Chakwera’s Tonse Alliance government justification for the exorbitant passport fees hovering at MK93,000 against the promised MK14,000.
CDEDI wonders how Chakwera Tonse government continues to charge more than promised when the same leadership told Malawians that after ending contract with Technobrain, the nation will enjoy cheaper passports.
Addressing the news conference on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 in the capital Lilongwe, CDEDI Executive Director Sylvester Namiwa warned the Tonse Alliance administration that, “The passport crisis at the
Department of Immigration and Citizen Services is tantamount to criminal negligence as some Malawians have lost their loved ones, failed to carry out
important businesses, and even lost life-time job and study opportunities because they could not obtain a passport”.
“Today is exactly a month since the Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services issued that statement titled ‘MAINTENACE OF PASSORT ISSUANCE SYSTEM,’ announcing the ‘extensive maintenance works’ when, in fact, the Passport Issuance System (PIS) had shutdown way back”.
Namiwa adds, “Apart from the aforementioned notice, there has been no update on the matter, save for President Lazarus Chakwera, while answering questions in Parliament on February 21, 2024, told the world that the PIS had been hacked, and the hackers were demanding a ransom.
“But we all now know that the system was not hacked. The truth of the matter is that the PIS shut down in the process of being tampered with by some Malawi Congress Party (MCP) self-exclaimed IT experts”.
“CDEDI is urging all well-meaning Malawians to demand prompt action for the resumption of passport printing at the Immigration Department.
“Furthermore, Malawians should demand an immediate reduction of passport fees, following the termination of the March 22, 2019 Government and Techno Brain Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) three-year e Passport project”, he urges.
Namiwa adds further, “Thus far, CDEDI has written Attorney General Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda, demanding justification for the exorbitant passport fees, almost three years after the termination of the $60.8 million (about K108.8 billion) contract on December 7, 2021.
“In fact, government said one of the reasons for cancelling the contract was to reduce the cost of acquiring the passport”.
Below is part of CDEDI statement on the matter:
As matter of fact, CDEDI wishes to draw Malawians’ attention to a Nyasatimes Online article titled ‘Government says termination of contract with Techno
Brain will lead to reduced passport charges,’ published on June 7, 2023 where the AG was quoted as saying: “So, my expectation is that the Department of
Immigration and Citizenship Services will be reducing the charges for the passports. I am not sure whether they can reduce it by K20,000 or whatever, but that is the expectation.”
According to the article, government paid $27 million (about K46 billion) as contract settlement fees, for the project whose cost was pegged at $76 (about K90,000 then) per passport, including 14 other deliverables, ranging from digitalisation of the Immigration Department registry, via networking of all the embassies, to the purchase of protective gear for printing rooms.
Almost three years down the line, Malawians are still paying through the nose to access the passport, which is in sharp contrast to the basis of the contract
termination and President Chakwera’s own campaign promise that passport fees would be K14,000.
To prove that this Tonse Alliance administration is milking unsuspecting Malawians, CDEDI conducted an online survey that revealed that passport books are fetching around $2.01 in Singapore and $4.19 in Hungary, which translates to K3,000 and K7,000 per booklet, respectively, meaning that the K14,000 per passport cost was feasible.
Since Malawians are still paying passport fees at the project price of K93,000, through the same dedicated bank account meant for the Techno Brain payment, and not directly to Treasury, CDEDI intends to benefit from the Access To Information (ATI) Act by demanding the following from the AG:
- How much has been saved following the termination of the contract thus far?
- exactly will government reduce the passport price to K14,000?
- Sanction a forensic audit of the dedicated bank account.
- Why are passport fees not paid directly to Treasury?
- Explain how GIT was identified as maintenance consultant, including terms of reference for the same.
AG’s failure to do the needful by Friday March 1, 2024 will prompt CDEDI to commence nationwide demonstrations.
On Wednesday last week Chakwera gave immigration department three weeks to fix passport crisis.
