By Cathy Maulidi:
The Department of Immigration and Citizenship Services (Dics) has announced the resumption of passport services at its Blantyre office, effective today.
This follows the suspension of the services, a development which affected passport applicants for months after the system collapsed.
The Daily Times first reported about passport issuance challenges earlier this year after being tipped off that the system had been hacked.
President Lazarus Chakwera later confirmed the story when he appeared in Parliament in February to update the nation on several issues, including the passport crisis.
Dics later resumed issuing passports in March, but only in Lilongwe despite having promised that services would be restored in all three regions.
A week ago, the department, through its spokesperson Wellington Chiponde, issued a statement indicating it had initiated a full-scale exercise to clear outstanding passport applications submitted between January and June this year.
Dics did not specify when passport printing would commence in the other regions.
But in a statement issued Tuesday, Chiponde praised the public for their patience during the suspension in Blantyre.
“With this development, all individuals seeking passport services are hereby notified that they can now access passport services at the Immigration Headquarters Offices in Blantyre,” he said in the statement.
“The department reiterates its commitment to providing efficient and reliable services that meet the expectations of its clients… and address all challenges related to [the] provision of passport services,” Chiponde added.
The statement does not indicate when passport services will resume in Mzuzu and Mangochi, which Dics said in a previous statement would follow after Blantyre.
In the meantime, all passport applications submitted to these offices were being processed in Lilongwe.
Dics has been under constant criticism for what some stakeholders call negligence and failure to fulfil its obligations following the passport issuance glitch.
Some officers within the department accused its leadership of presiding over the mess by failing to utilise the skills and talents of those who could help clear it.
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