GOVERNMENT yesterday said production of passports is
expected to improve within a month as Treasury has bought new machinery to
print the travel documents at a cost of nearly US$600 000. In a Press briefing
in Hwange yesterday, Home Affairs and Cultural Heritage Minister Cain Mathema
said the Government was committed to meeting its obligations to ensure the
public accesses travel documents.
“I want to take this opportunity to advise that my ministry
is currently facing an increasing backlog of passport applications dating back
to July 2018. This has been occasioned mainly by the unavailability of foreign
currency to procure the needed consumables including the passport paper,” said
the minister.
“Also due to the passage of time, some of the passport
production machinery has been in use for some time and there is now need to
replace them. The challenges which are currently being faced by the Central
Registry relate to our indebtedness to the suppliers of consumables as opposed
to incapacity to produce the same and meet demand of the vital documents.”
He said Government has made various interventions to ensure
that passport production improves, adding that in a month there will be a
marked change.
“But what we can promise is that within the next four to
five weeks we’ll be able to produce not less than 3 000 passports a day.
“We have the money, the President had to intervene. Our
ultimate target is to produce at least 8 000 a day because of the machinery we
are using and the one that is yet to come,” said Minister Mathema.
The minister said his ministry and Treasury are working to
address challenges that had stalled issuance of passports.
He said President Mnangagwa has been instrumental in ensuring
challenges occurring in the procurement of necessary production equipment are
addressed.
“Thus Treasury has already paid US$591 000 to procure three
state of the art high capacity printers. Such a development would raise
production from the current 3 000 passports a day to 8 000, which matches or
equals the current daily production capacity, which translates to clearing the
backlog at a rate of approximately 160 000 a month when commissioned,” he said.
“Treasury has further taken upon itself to allocate
resources to retire the outstanding debt whilst at the same time addressing the
issues of consumables. To this end, a payment plan has been formally been
agreed with the supplier of the consumables with the initial payments having
been made on the 28th of June 2019. An order has been placed and we are
awaiting delivery.”
He said the Registry department is committed to
decentralising its offices for the betterment of society and is working on
construction district offices in Insiza, Matabeleland South among other areas
across the country.
Minister Mathema said in the spirit of devolution,
Government will continue to cascade its offices to grassroots levels as the
public should not struggle to access services.
Registrar General Mr Clemence Masango and Matabeleland
North registrar Mr Willard Sayenda attended the briefing.
Cde Mathema’s visit to Hwange Registry Office is part of
his determination to ensure that public officials render effective services to
the public as well as listen to their challenges as they execute their duties.
Herald
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