MANGOCHI, February 07, 2016 (MaraviPost): In a bid to stamp out corruption at the Immigration Department which is often exacerbated by middlemen in the processing of Malawian passports, the Anti – Corruption Bureau (ACB) has embarked on a countrywide public awareness campaign on the normal procedure for obtaining the document.
According to an official of ACB, the Immigration Department which launched a corruption prevention policy in 2013 realised that there were a lot of problems created by middlemen in the processing of a Malawian Passport which in the long run creates fertile ground for bribes and corruption.
Speaking at one of the public awareness meetings at M’baluku in the area of Traditional Authority Chowe, ACB Corruption Prevention Officer, and Susan Phiri said the two agents jointly developed an implementation plan of the policy in order to mainstream the strategy to the masses.
“One of the key activities in the implementation plan was to roll out a public awareness campaign since the Immigration Department serves the general public,” Phiri said.
Phiri said the major objective of the campaign was to make people know the proper procedures on how to apply, obtain the passport and how to get general services offered by the department so as not to use any agents.
“We would like people to understand the passport application process better so that as they go to Immigration Department they are fully equipped not to be cheated by any unscrupulous person soliciting bribes from unsuspecting applicants,” Phiri said.
She emphasized: “In fact, the requirement is that any passport applicant should follow through the procedure of passport processing and once the document has been issued the applicant is supposed to sign for it at the issuing office.”
Phiri, however, observed that the reactions from the general public would help Immigration and ACB in programming since they would have known real challenges people face on the ground in terms of passport application.
“Sometimes we plan things without knowing what people out there are thinking, therefore, this kind of interface is very important to iron out such differences. From the contributions people have made, we are going to report to senior management of both agencies to improve on some areas in line with the public service reform agenda,” Phiri assured.
Commenting on why Mangochi was selected, Phiri disclosed that from the statistics obtained at the Immigration, it was evident that there was an influx of applicants for the document from the district and that most people from Mangochi travel to South Africa and Saudi Arabia, Mecca on religious sojourns.
Other districts targeted with the campaign include Mzimba, Nkhata Bay and Salima.
According to Phiri, the campaign was also targeting traditional leaders on the basis that the process of passport application begins with chiefs as custodians of their subjects.
National Immigration Public Relations Officer, Joseph Chauwa said the Immigration Department found the public awareness campaign necessary because it would go a long way in informing the sector on how it could improve its service delivery.
“As you may have noticed, some of the issues raised relate to corrupt practices amidst a corruption prevention policy. We will continue working closely with the ACB to effectively improve on our corruption index,” Chauwa said.
Chauwa pointed out that some of the reforms the Immigration was undertaking included opening of passport issuing offices in strategic areas like Mangochi and Lilongwe Post Offices and reduction in the number of days for processing the document.
“So within those reforms, government has instructed us that we should also take the services closer to people by having such services in post offices – any time soon, we will start providing such services like photo and finger print capturing at the said places,” he assured.
During the awareness meeting, Mike Maxford alleged that foreigners have easy access to Malawian Passport because they have money to corrupt officers with to beat the system.
He also challenged that the presence of middlemen would remain unresolved because the agents are usually ‘planted’ by Immigration Officers to complicate the process for their own personal gains.
While another community member, Hussein Mdala claimed he applied for the travelling document five years ago and that his hope of getting it was now fading.
