GOVERNMENT has authorised the Civil Registry Department to
charge US$318 for passport applicants in the Diaspora while local charges
remain unchanged.
Last month, the Government announced that passport fees
would be increased significantly to enable the Registrar-General’s Office to
clear the huge backlog.
Addressing the media yesterday, Home Affairs and Cultural
Heritage Minister Kazembe Kazembe said: “The ministry is aware of the high
expectations from members of the public for timely provision of service,
particularly in the area of issuance of travel documents.
“The ministry is also aware of what citizens are going
through, especially those living abroad whose passports have expired.
“Citizens in the Diaspora need to have valid passports in
order to regularise their stay in the host countries. As a way of assisting the
department to attend to requirements for passports by citizens in the Diaspora,
Government has therefore authorised the Civil Registry Department to charge
US$318 for passports, in respect of those in the Diaspora. The applications
will be prioritised on an urgent basis.”
He said details on the implementation of this decision were
being worked out by the Civil Registry Department in consultation with other
stakeholders.
An ordinary passport costs $53, while an emergency passport
costs $253. The prices were gazetted in 2010 during the US dollar era.
The Civil Registry Department has a backlog of 359 288
passports which date back to August 2018. This has been attributed to the limited availability of
foreign currency to buy the required consumables such as ink, films, ribbon and
passport paper.
“The situation has been exacerbated by the low passport
fees being charged by the Civil Registry Department. The department is charging
its clients in local currency yet consumables for the production of passports
are imported and require foreign currency,” said Minister Kazembe.
“The prices of passports remain unchanged. Contrary to what
was published in the media before regarding an increase in the passport fees, I
want to make it clear that nothing like that has happened. When new fees have
been approved, communication will be made through the proper channels.
“Those who will apply for the urgent passports will get
them within the prescribed period of 24 hours.”
Currently, 2 000 passports are being produced a day and
they are processing September 2018 applications. If adequate foreign currency is made available, the total
number of passports produced daily can be doubled to 4 600 and this will go a
long way in clearing the backlog.
Turning to corruption allegations levelled against some
workers in the Civil Registry Department who are said to be demanding bribes
for them to speedily process passports, Minister Kazembe urged members of the
public to become whistle-blowers for the culprits to be punished.
“It takes two people to engage in corruption. We want to
urge members of the public to report these issues so that we can deal with the
culprits once and for all.
“The problem is that people are not coming forward with the
necessary information so that these issues are addressed. We should all desist
from promoting corruption. We rely on members of the public to help us fight
this scourge,” said Minister Kazembe. Herald
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