By Jeff Andrew Lule
Over 20,000 passports have remained uncollected at the immigration offices at Kyambogo since 2018, the Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesperson, Simon Mundeyi, has said.
Mundeyi said Monday that the owners have never picked their passport booklets despite having paid for them.
“With the 3,000 passports we print every day, storage is becoming a challenge at our offices in Kyambogo. We urge people who applied for these passports to call our offices and know where their passports are,” he said during a joint security briefing at the Police headquarters in Naguru.
Mundeyi noted that the Directorate of Immigration and Citizenship Control (DICC) suspects that many of the owners are not getting notifications from the directorate because they filled in the wrong information during the application process.
“Some filled in wrong information with errors while writing their [phone] numbers,” he said.
“Some might have replaced zero (0) with a letter (O) while putting in their numbers. The system automatically would not recognise that number.
“Other applicants use brokers and some of these brokers intentionally put wrong numbers to fleece more money from the applicants. These brokers know that if applicants don’t get messages, they will be desperate, and will look for them,” said Mundeyi.
He said all applicants must ensure they fill in the forms themselves because the system is simple and user-friendly.
“Our ministry and all its directorates do not work with third parties and brokers.”
The internal affairs ministry says some brokers have even opened offices along Dewinton, Nasser and Nkrumah roads.
“Of course, we did manage to send them out of the premises of the Ministry of Internal Affairs but these people are still going out and fleecing people,” said Mundeyi.
“We appeal to Ugandans looking for passports not to involve brokers because the system has been simplified. It is very easy, it is user-friendly. So, you do this by yourself – all our services are easy to access, and procedures are very clear for one to use.”
Many victims get defrauded because they want quick immigration services like passports and always want to sidestep the process.
Those who applied for passports and have not received any notification should call telephone number: 0417102600 or send a tweet to @DCICUg or @MIA_UG to get feedback.
Mundeyi clarified that ordinary passports cost sh250,000 but where one needs extra processing (quick passport) they charge an extra sh150,000.
Those who want to replace a lost or damaged passport incur an extra cost of sh100,000 only as a fine.
All the money is paid in the bank and a receipt is issued without any charge. You can pay in the bank or pay using other payment gateways whether using mobile money or visa card.
